Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself
by RandomHobo
Summary: The incident involving Mizuki happens to Naruto at the early age of nine. How will the early demise of Iruka and involvement of Itachi affect our young protagonist? NaruxHarem. Canon with some twists and altercations to the plot, Strong/Smart/Semi-Dark Naruto. (UNDERGOING REWRITE)
1. Chapter 1

**BETA'D BY THEAMATEURAJ 10/8/16**

 **(A/N: Hello all, This is my first Naruto FanFic. Im usually in the Fairy Tail universe, but I thought I'd try this out because the authors I like with good stories are never finished… Damn you Zukara!**

 **I know for sure this is gonna be a Naru x Ino or Naru x Anko pairing, heck, might even be Naru x Sakura pairing… I don't know about a harem though, If it is, its gonna be relatively small, though I'm leaning towards a single pairing… I really hate the Naru x Hina, The shyness annoys me to no end.**

 **Tags: Smarter/Witty and more badass Naruto. Moderate amount of Sasuke bashing.**

 **What you're not going to see: No HinaXNaruto. Very little OC, I don't like OC's because It's tough to visualize em. No original** _ **Major**_ **Arc. I might do something small but meh, I'll mostly follow canon and maybe few of the movies with my twists. By the way, Anko and Kurenai will be a bit younger at this point in time AND the Uchiha's Massacre event happens a little later than usual.**

 **Summary: Canon with** _ **some**_ **twists and altercations to the plot; The incident involving Mizuki happens to Naruto at the early age of nine. How will the early demise of Iruka and involvement of Itachi affect our young protagonist? NaruxHarem?**

"Speech"

' _thought'_

" **Jutsu: in use"**

' _ **Kyuubi/Summon thought'**_

" **Kyuubi/Summon speech"**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing of Naruto, all right belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, except the image cover used, that belongs to whoever created that. :D**

 **Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself**

 **Chapter One: The First Shift**

 **X**

Goggles firmly resting on his forehead, Naruto looked for something to occupy his time. Nearly anything would do at this point, really. He had been tiredly waiting for nearly an hour and goddammit if he wasn't bored.

The nine-year-old blonde pounded his head against the school desk silently as he continued to wait for the arrival of Mizuki-sensei or Iruka-sensei. "This is sooooo freaaaaaking booooring!" he grumbled to himself. Next to him, a raven-haired boy silently agreed.

Uchiha Sasuke had to admit that the dobe next to him had gotten something right for once. _'I don't need a history lesson… I need to get stronger to beat_ him _. He already graduated by this age!'_

Behind him, Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura glared at the orange-clad boy with an intense killer aura. He actually had the audacity to take the spot right next to their beloved object of infatuation!?

Naruto was well aware of the blatant killing intent stemming from behind him. It wasn't that hard to pick up, regardless, even if there was subtle killing intent, he would've been aware, simply because his instincts were now honed to the point where he could sense nearly every immediate hostile intent, no matter how insignificant, aimed towards him. However, Sakura and Ino's intent were more irritated rather than the murderous vibe he got from some of the villagers so he simply ignored it. The worst he would get would probably be a fist to the head from the two fangirls.

But he had experienced worse.

 _Much_ worse.

Sighing, the whiskered boy looked to his left at the young Uchiha. _'Why is this guy always brooding? He acts as if his clan was killed by his brother or some shit.'_

Despite this thought, Naruto knew that the Uchiha clan was currently thriving and well alive. He also knew that Sasuke was butt-hurt because he wasn't as good as his older brother.

And how did our young protagonist know?

Easy, he knew Itachi on a personal level. When they first encountered each other, they understood each other well enough to form a sense of camaraderie. Itachi was well aware of the lone boy's pain and Naruto saw something within the older Uchiha that set him apart from the rest of his clan. Initially, Naruto felt a bit guilty that he was stealing Sasuke's bond with his brother, but as soon as Naruto found out about the giant dildo up Sasuke's ass, he shrugged all the guilt off.

Naruto thought back to when he first met the older Itachi.

 **: : : FLASHBACK START : : :**

 _Naruto was silent as he stared at the ceiling of the Hokage's office, a whiskered face of intense contemplation in place. This particular day was a day where Naruto's usual exuberance was diminished. He sighed. The blonde knew this was for his best interest but that didn't mean he had to like it._

 _Still, he would rather be here than out there._

 _Sarutobi Hiruzen observed the blonde and frowned. He wished there was some other way to handle the situation, but this was the best possible solution for his surrogate grandson. He had to keep the young jinchuriki with him to insure his safety. After all, if past experiences were anything to go by, the levels of danger were at its peak for the boy at this time of year._

 _What unfortunate luck to be conceived on this day._

 _The Sandaime Hokage gave a weary and annoyed sigh as his duty as the village leader prevented him from actually doing anything more in terms of providing any sense of normalcy for the child's birthday. The only thing that was normal about Naruto's birthday was the present that only he, the Sandaime, would give to him._

 _Jiraiya of course sent him money, but Hiruzen didn't yet explain to Naruto as to who was funding him. He didn't want to let Naruto know about his godfather acting very… well… not godfather-like. How was a village leader supposed to explain to a child that his godfather couldn't be there for him because of said village leader's orders? The spy network provided by Jiraiya was invaluable and was crucial to the village's safety._

 _This year Hiruzen gave the boy a set of practice kunai and shuriken. It was all much duller than the actual versions of the items, but needless to say, Naruto loved it._

Naruto suddenly groaned. " _Jiji, I'm bored! Can we go somewhere!?" the now eight-year-old boy exclaimed._

 _Hiruzen gave a sad smile. "Naruto-kun, you know why I can't let you go out-"_

" _But I don't know why! All I know is that the people will hurt me on my birthday, but I don't know why they do it!" Naruto scowled as he interrupted his grandfather figure._

 _The Sarutobi's smile turned into a frown. Knowing only one thing that could placate the boy, the aged Hokage set aside his paperwork and stood up. "Alright, fine, Naruto-kun. We can go out today since it's your birthday. I'll even treat you out to some Ichiraku's. Does that sound good?"_

" _Yatta!" In an instant Naruto was standing up and enthusiastically pumping his little fist in the air._

 _Hiruzen chuckled. "Alright, get your stuff and we can head out as soon as you're ready-"_

 _Suddenly, Hiruzen's assistant, Miu, could be heard from the now slightly opened door._

" _Hokage-sama, pardon the intrusion but the council wanted to speak to you about some urgent matter."_

 _Hiruzen frowned. "Tell them I'm busy today." the Sandaime gave a good-natured smiled to the blonde. "After all, I have an important matter to attend to."_

 _Naruto beamed at the Hokage and latched onto the old man's robe. Hiruzen returned this affectionate gesture with several gentle and affectionate head taps._

 _Miu's next words were a bit hesitant. "Are you sure Hokage-sama? The matter is regarding… possible intrusion of… Orochimaru-"_

" _Say no more. I'll be there," the Sandaime interrupted rather sternly._

 _At those words, Naruto's heart shattered as the boy's shoulders slumped depressingly. Tears threatened to spill as he bit his lips to keep himself from crying. Failing miserably,_

 _The Sandaime knelt down to the boy's eye level. "I am so sorry, Naruto-kun. If I could, I would retire right now for you but the village really needs me. You understand, don't you?"_

 _Despite feeling slightly betrayed, Naruto nodded glumly. Hiruzen stood up and frowned._ 'If only someone else could- oh! If I'm not mistaken, it looks like Itachi came back. _'_

 _He felt the presence of one of the most prodigal shinobis coming in._

 _Hiruzen then turned to the crying jinchuuriki and knelt once again. "Naruto-kun, I promise I'll make it up to you, but in the meantime this will have to do, okay?"_

 _Naruto looked confused as he looked up to the Sandaime's eyes with slightly blurred vision. Before he could ask, sounds of clothes rustling and movement resounded from behind him._

" _Anbu Captain Kamataichi (Weasel) mission reporting mission #3041. Status: success," a sudden monotonous voice said._

" _Ah, Kamataichi-kun, that is good to hear… However, I now have another mission that only you can accomplish. Do you accept?" Hiruzen spoke with a smile._

 _Realizing what the old jiji was doing, Naruto giggled._

 _Ignoring the laugh and presence of the young boy, Itachi straightened up and bowed. "Yes, Hokage-sama!"_

 _He knew it mattered not what kind of mission it was. If it was perilous and he needed to risk his life to complete it, he would do it in a heartbeat for his village._

 _He would be a weapon of Konoha._

 _He would be the Hokage's tool._

 _He would be an instrument whose sole purpose was to do as asked and kill if necessary._

" _You'rebabysittingNaruto-kunhere," the Sanaime quickly coughed out._

 _He would be Konoha's most accomplished babysitter._

 _Wait…_

 _What?!_

 _Naruto gave a cheerful wave and snickered._

 **: : : FLASHBACK END : : :**

Of course, the knowledge of him and Itachi being friends was a secret to everyone but Naruto, the Hokage and Itachi himself.

Well, at least Naruto considered him a friend.

An older brother even.

"Dobe," Sasuke said, pulling Naruto from his thoughts.

"Teme," retorted the young demon container.

…

Naruto glanced at his raven-haired classmate when he didn't respond.

… …

' _What the hell, why did he even talk to me?'_ Naruto frowned. _'Whatever, I'm just gonna ignore him.'_

Sasuke, noticing the attention of the blonde was elsewhere frowned, _'Everyone should be paying the utmost attention to an Uchiha when one speaks to them!'_ In an irritated voice, he spoke once more, "Dobe."

Naruto sighed and continued to ignore him. _'I wonder what time we can get out of class… I want some ramen, dattebayo…'_

"Oi, dobe! I'm talking to you!"

… … …

Sasuke was practically seething at being ignored. He was an Uchiha! Someone of his prestigious caliber should ever be ignored-

"What the hell do you want, teme?"

Sasuke smirked, an Uchiha would always get his way. It was in their divine right. "Hn. I don't know what you're talking about. An Uchiha like myself would never address you first unless we were ordered by the Hokage himself, and even then-"

The sliding of the classroom door interrupted Sasuke's self-pretentious speech. A random chunin came in.

"Attention class! Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei will be unable to come to class today due to… _unseemly_ circumstances, therefore class will be cancelled for today."

Naruto grinned as a cheer erupted throughout the class. He knew that he was the reason for them not showing up… oh he knew all too well.

After all, he was the prankster king for a reason.

 **X**

Naruto drummed his fingers against the countertop at his favorite little restaurant as he waited impatiently. _'Man, it sure is taking him a long-ass time. I wonder what the hold-up is?'_

Bored, Naruto looked at everything around him, noticing every little detail before his eyes rested on one fourteen-year-old Ayame. He studied everything about her, her long brown hair underneath her white bandanna, her fair skin while she worked, and then looked at her dark brown eyes…

That were staring directly back at him.

Naruto froze, instantly realizing he had been caught gazing at her.

Instead of scowling or getting angry, Ayame simply giggled. "Don't worry, Naruto-kun, your ramen is almost done. You don't have to stare at me for much longer," she finished with a teasing tone.

Naruto turned tomato red as he spluttered out, "W-w-well, I-I mean I- I didn't mean- I'm not a pervert!" he finally ended up screaming.

A man's voice suddenly entered the verbal fray. "Are you perving on my daughter Naruto?!" he yelled in fake anger, but Naruto didn't properly perceive it.

Instantly recognizing the voice as Teuchi, Ayame's father, Naruto's visage became horrified. "Oi, Teuchi-oji-san, I'm not a pervert! I mean, yeah, she's pretty and stuff, but I'm only nine years old, dattebayo!"

"Oh, so you do think I'm pretty?" Ayame teased with a victorious smirk.

For the second time since he entered the ramen stand his cheeks felt blood rush through them as he tried coming up with an excuse. "I-I-I didn't m-meant it l-like that, nee-chan!" he cried out.

Ayame pouted as fake tears brimmed at the edge of her eyes. "S-so I'm ugly then…?"

Teuchi smirked as Naruto pointed a finger at him. "Look what you did, oji-san! Your daughter is crying and it's all you fault!" He then turned his attention to the pseudo-crying girl. "Ayame-nee-chan, don't cry! You're one of the prettiest girls I know, dattebayo!"

Ayame's demeanor did a complete one eighty as she ran around the counter and engulfed the young blonde in a choking embrace. "Aw, Naruto-kun! If only you were a bit older, I would nab you all for myself!"

"C-c-can't b-breath!" a blue-faced Naruto managed to choke out.

"Whoops, sorry Naruto-kun." Ayame giggled as she let go of the sputtering while he breathed in as much air as possible.

Teuchi chuckled at the children's antics. Naruto was always brightening the mood around here. The movement of the flaps of the restaurant indicating another customer had entered brought all their attention to the newcomer.

In unison, Ayame and Teuchi spoke with smiles on their faces. "Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen-"

"Why were you so late, nii-san?!" Naruto screamed at the new arrival with a fierce glare.

Ayame and Teuchi bopped the young jinchuuriki on the head. "Naruto, that's no way to treat a guest of our restaurant! We thought you knew better than that!"

Before Naruto could defend himself the customer sat down and patted the young blonde on the head. Itachi held his other free hand up as a gesture to calm their scolding. "It's fine. I was a bit late after all… isn't that right Naruto-kun?"

Naruto pouted with his eyes squinted shut and arms defiantly crossed. "Hmph! Teme-nii-san was supposed to be here when I first got here…"

Itachi sighed and flicked him on the forehead. "Naruto-kun, what did I tell you about calling me that?"

"Ow!" Naruto rubbed his forehead soothingly before turning his squinty scowl at the Uchiha. "And I can't help it! You're teme's older brother and you were late! I think it's fair for you to be 'teme-nii-san' for one day!" huffed Naruto.

Ayame and Teuchi looked at each other before shrugging. "Uh… we'll let you guys get reacquainted. We need to go finish preparing the ramen. Did you want anything, sir?" Ayame asked politely.

"Hmm… I'll just take a vegetable ramen-" Itachi started off.

"Screw that! Get him a miso ramen, Ayame-nee-chan!" Naruto interrupted. He looked at Itachi with a desperate look. "Oh come on, Itachi-nii, you have to at least try the best stuff for your first time!" Naruto begged.

Itachi chuckled before he looked at Ayame and nodded in confirmation. "I'll take one miso ramen then." When she left, he patted Naruto on the head. "So no more Teme-nii-san, hm?"

Naruto grinned. "I guess you earned yourself a break."

The rest of their lunch went by without incident as Itachi listened to Naruto talk about his day.

When the subject approached the topic of the academy, the demon container then turned to Itachi. "Hey, how come your little brother is such a punk-ass bitc- _ow_!"

Standing over him was a smiling Ayame, who had evidently slammed a giant ladle on the blonde's head.

"You were saying something, Naruto-kun?" she said almost too sweetly.

"Err, I was saying, why is your brother such a sweet little angel?"

Itachi's mouth twitched in amusement as Ayame nodded in approval.

Suddenly the sounds of the stand's flaps blowing announced another customer and, without warning, Naruto was pushed off his seat.

"Don't call me an angel, dobe!"

Itachi internally groaned. Of course his actual little brother had to show up. Naruto angrily started to get up in order to retaliate but Itachi held him back with a gentle grasp on his shoulder.

Naruto simply sighed and ignored the younger Uchiha before he turned to the older one. "Alright, Itachi-ni-" Naruto froze as he caught his verbal slip, ' _Oh crap…'_ he winced internally. Of course his freakin' slip of tongue had to be in front of Sasuke. _'Oh kami, he's gonna freak-'_

Sasuke glared at Naruto. "What did you just call him, dobe?!"

"Nothing," Naruto quickly retorted.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. _'If he was about to say what I think he was about to say…'_

Itachi quickly stood in between the two younger occupants of the restaurant. He turned to his younger brother in blood. "Sasuke-kun, what is the issue here? Did you come looking for me or did you come simply to antagonize your friend here?"

Naruto scoffed at the term 'friend'.

Sasuke seemed to agree with Naruto as he glared at his older brother. "Nii-san, why are you hanging with cretin that are beneath our clan name? Especially this dobe!"

Itachi frowned, "You should never address another person like that Sasuke-kun, please refrain from doing so again." The elder Uchiha gestured to the blonde blonde, "Naruto-kun here is a very good friend of mine."

Sasuke scowled, "Whatever, Tou-sama wishes for your presence."

Itachi nodded. "Alright, Sasuke-kun, go on ahead without me. I'll be home shortly." He mentally scowled. _'Must be another meeting on the coup d'état… looks like the time is approaching…'_

"Hn." Came the reply of the young Uchiha as he turned around to leave.

Naruto scowled at Sasuke's back as he left. He shook his head and turned to the remaining Uchiha. "I don't see how the two of you are related."

Itachi chuckled and brought out enough money to cover both tabs. He flicked Naruto's forehead and the blonde yelped in pain, making Itachi chuckle even more as he left the pouting jinchuriki there.

"But he didn't even get to try ramen!"

 **X**

Once Naruto finished eating he thanked Ayame and Teuchi before leaving. Deciding to get some good ol' training in, he started heading over to the training grounds. Using the alleyways and shortcuts to his advantage, he swiftly navigated the passages while achieving his desired intention of avoiding people. It would do him no good to run into anyone when he was alone. They didn't really do anything to him in broad daylight but the occasional villager or shinobi would gain the courage to throw something at him.

That included tomatoes and rotten food as he recently found out.

Other times it would be more lethal...

Naruto kept quiet and stealthily walked to training grounds forty-three, one he knew that was always empty. He didn't really know any reasons why, although he suspected it had something to do with training ground forty-four making weird feral and animalistic noises.

' _Oh well, as long as it keeps people away from me it's fine,'_ he thought as he headed towards his intended training grounds. _'I wonder if that weird 'youthful' guy is gonna be around…'_

Naruto frowned as he recalled the memories of the strange exuberant man. Oddly, the only thing he could recall is the words that the man kept shouting out with every punch and kick.

' _YOUTH! YOUTH! YOUTH! YOUTH! YOUTH! YOUTH! YOUTH! YOUTH! YOUTH! YOUTH! YOUTH! YOUTH!'_

Naruto cringed as the image of a green-spandexed man punching and screaming at the top of his lungs about youth assaulted his mind.

Shuddering at the thought of him, Naruto never ever wanted to be near that guy unless it was for shinobi purposes... maybe.

Despite his uh… _eager_ tendencies, Naruto knew the man was pretty strong at the very least. He was working out like a madman without tiring every time Naruto saw or heard him. The caterpillar man would have several boulders attached to him while he did whatever exercise. Whether the exercise be running up walls or impossibly steep cliffs or ravines, the man always did it an extreme way. Either attach multiple huge boulders to weigh him down, or sprint up only on two fingers.

No weak man would ever do that.

Anyway, Naruto decided that since no one else would take the time of the day to teach him, he'd learn on his own. He looked at various shinobi training and tried to copy what they did. Of course, this was all done discretely... for obvious reasons.

And that was how Naruto trained everything… well… everything that wasn't chakra-based. Naruto couldn't do shit with his chakra and it absolutely irritated and puzzled him to no end even though they had just unlocked their tenketsu this year like every other year four academy students would.

It was sort of a rite of passage he supposed, at least that's what jiji told him. However, surprisingly, when Naruto unlocked his chakra everyone in a half-mile radius passed out, himself included.

The Hokage was there when he woke up and tried to explain everything to everyone about what happened. He said, "Naruto-kun has too much chakra and the density of it was- blah blah blah".

Naruto didn't really pay attention because firstly, unlocking your chakra was painful as hell and he was super exhausted after he regained consciousness; and secondly, when did he pay attention to anything important?

Never.

That's when.

Although he made a mental note to fix that issue soon.

Suddenly, a scream broke Naruto's train of thought.

"YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUTH! YOUTH! YOUTH!"

' _Oh kami, he's close…'_ Naruto mentally grimaced.

He trudged towards the source of exuberance after some deep contemplation. It took a few moments, but with some common sense and the powerful need and want to get stronger, he reluctantly decided to go study the strange man.

The enthusiastic screams of passion grew even louder until he finally arrived hidden in the dense forest.

Welp, he was here now.

For better or for worse, not even he knew.

 **X**

' _Ok, first he ran laps- no… wait, did he stretch first? Well, no shit he stretched first. Everyone stretches first! Okay so let's restart… stretch first, laps, the basic pushups and shit, then the advanced and crazy weird pushups and shit… and then…'_ Naruto paused for a moment with a puzzled expression.

' _Dammit! What the hell did he do again? Ugh, I can't concentrate right now next to this emo tit.'_ Naruto glanced at the raven-haired boy next to him who was currently glaring at him.

It had been like this ever since that incident at Ichiraku's… As soon as Naruto was in a two hundred feet radius of Sasuke the young Uchiha would find him and try to burn holes into the young blonde's very being.

It was pretty uncanny… Actually, it would've been a pretty impressive feat of determination if it wasn't so creepy.

Like, seriously! A wall could be separating the two and as soon as Naruto walked around the corner, Sasuke's duck-ass head would be fully rotated to glare at him while his upper torso was facing a completely different direction…

Seriously.

What. The. Fuck?!

And to make things worse, wherever Naruto sat, Sasuke would sit right freakin' next to him!

"Teme, I'm flattered and all… but I don't play for _that_ team so, uh, if you could kindly get away from me… that'd be splendid…"

Sasuke blushed from embarrassment while the girls glared at the whiskered boy for implying womething that would put all of their efforts down the drain. The guys on the other hand loved it.

Kiba was practically howling with laughter while Choji chuckled.

Shikamaru muttered a quick 'troublesome' while having the faintest grin.

Shino seemed to be impassive but the shuddering of his chest and shoulders indicated silent laughter.

"I am _not_ gay, dobe!" Sasuke hissed.

"Then why the hell do you keep staring at me _and_ keep sitting near me? For the whole week on top of that!" Naruto challenged.

Stating these facts aloud seemed to have brought a heart stopping realization to the girls who worshiped the young Uchiha. Many of the young females, including Ino and Sakura, looked at each other with worry and a hint of panic in their eyes.

Why _was_ Sasuke doing all those things…?

Naruto smirked at Sasuke who just gritted his teeth. He didn't really want to explain that he was jealous of Naruto's bond with _his_ older brother, along with wanting an explanation on how and why they were closer than Itachi and himself, his _actual_ brother.

Naruto continued smirking at the black-haired boy which seemed to piss him off even more. _'Oh man, I love moments like these…'_

Naruto was brought out of his thoughts when he heard something whizzing towards him. On instinct honed from all his life, he ducked and saw an eraser fly over his head hitting the desk behind him.

"Naruto!" barked Iruka, obviously the person who had thrown the object at him.

"What was that for, Iruka-sensei?!" Naruto yelped.

Iruka frowned. "That was for not paying attention!"

Naruto looked incredulous. "What?! Are you serious?! Of all people, _me_?! Oh for Kami's sake- look at the emo bastard next to me! He's been staring at me for the past few days! Not to mention he's been staring out the goddamned window for the past century and you didn't throw anything at him!"

Iruka looked thoughtful as he conceded a bit. "Well… I suppo-"

Too bad, Naruto was on a roll now. "And look at the two bimbos behind me! All they do is stare at sir emo-ass-" He jerked a thumb towards a still glaring Sasuke "-and you don't ever see them getting something thrown at them!"

Sakura and Ino didn't even hear him as they continued their dream-like stare at the raven-haired boy, apparently having quelled the question of Sasuke's sexuality from their minds.

Naruto then pointed to a sleeping Shikamaru. "And this guy! He's literally slept every class since day one!"

At this point, everyone was staring at Naruto in awe, including Iruka, with one similar thought on their mind. _'When did the dobe notice all these things?!'_

Naruto then turned his attention to Kiba, who was now clearly outside the classroom window playing with Akamaru. "He's not even in class! Need I say more?"

Iruka looked outside with confusion on his face. "What the hell- when did he get- Kiba! Get your ass back in here!"

Kiba clicked his tongue in annoyance before he climbed back through the window, albeit begrudgingly.

Naruto then glanced at Hinata, contemplating whether or not to expose her for her… similar fangirl-like _endeavors_ towards himself.

Hinata, who thought she was next on the target list, ducked her head with a furious blush. The blonde jinchuriki seemed to have changed his mind about calling her out on her weird stalking habit and resumed his rant. "And look at Choji- what in the actual fuck! Look at him! He has a damn grill in front of him with meat on it, and you're gonna call _me_ out?!

Choji blatantly ignored everyone as he threw some more meat on the grill.

Everyone sweatdropped at the sight.

Iruka looked defeated. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry, Naruto… and thank you for bringing this to my attention… Now everyone that was mentioned has detention!"

This set off a set of reactions, none that Iruka was hoping for. Sakura and Ino squealed at the prospect of spending more time with their precious Sasuke-kun. Shikamaru didn't care since he was just gonna sleep that time away anyway. Choji shrugged. He'd just eat more of the snacks he carried to pass the time. Kiba didn't care much. He had just received Akamaru from his clan and wanted to bond with the little dog as much as possible. Since they were now official partners detention would be fully and gladly spent with his new bud.

Sasuke, however, was a different story. The young 'prodigy' seethed at the blue-eyed blonde boy with evident rage. "Dobe, look what you've done!"

Naruto was about to retort when he felt two separate fists collide with the back of head along with the shout of Sasuke's two number one fans. "Yeah, idiot, look what you've done!" They yelled in unison.

"Ow! Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, that hurt!" Naruto whined as he nursed the back of his head.

Sakura and Ino huffed as one. "That's what you get for getting us all in trouble!"

' _Not that we mind…'_ Both girls added in a silent afterthought.

"Whatever," Naruto mumbled.

Iruka pouted with comical tears streaming down his face. "Man! I don't think it would even matter if you brats had detention or not! It's not like it's gonna change anything! So luckily for you guys, detention is canceled… but seriously, back in my day…"

Iruka then went on to rambling on about today's generation needing to discipline themselves until the dismissal bell rang. Without any hesitation, Naruto darted out the room quickly with a scowl on his face. He had had enough of the people in the classroom and the bullshit.

 **X**

Naruto kicked at the ground as he walked along the village. He kept his gaze down and ignored the villagers open disdain for him, having learned early on to not make eye contact or else he'd incite some form of retaliation from anyone within a hundred yard radius. He quickened his pace to the training ground he was heading to; civilians weren't allowed on the shinobi's turf so at least he'd be safe from them over there.

Of course, it was natural that he would have had a few run in with some angry shinobi every once in a while, but the most they did was sent him packing from the training grounds with some harsh words.

He approached the training ground with a mental sigh of relief. He was finally in the safe zone, somewhere he could kick back and relax.

Except he wasn't gonna kick back and relax, he was gonna train.

Well, he was gonna try.

The reason he could only 'try', and not 'do', was simply because no one had taught him. He couldn't really try and learn on his own because he never had the proper material at his disposal and he couldn't obtain them through stores with him being the pariah of the village.

This meant that as the scorn of the village he was constantly thrown out stores for simply being in there, and the instructors at the academy regularly sneered at him for even approaching them so that was a no-go… well, everyone except Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei.

But the two aforementioned chunin never had time because they were always grading papers and busy with some other teacher stuff.

That's why his training regimen was usually taken from other shinobi he was able to observe on the rare occasion that he wasn't found out by them.

Today, Naruto was gonna be following his own regimen and another that he observed from a rather happy fellow. Naruto scrunched his face up as he tried remembering the man in the green spandex suit's regimen for the umpteenth time.

"Oh yeah! I remember, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled emphatically as he set to run a hundred laps.

And that was only the warm up.

Naruto huffed and puffed as he ended his last lap. "Son of a gun, that was pretty tiring. Ugh… I guess this is the price of becoming Hokage, dattebayo!"

He quickly stood up and stretched before going to the decently sized stream, drinking some water from his cupped hands and washing his face as he relished in the revitalizing feeling.

Feeling somewhat refreshed, Naruto set about to do the next part of the workout before he suddenly froze.

What did he do next again?

Scrunching his face in concentration, Naruto struggled to recall the exact workout. His eyes panned across the training ground hoping for some kind of memory spark. When his eyes fell on some boulders he yelped in triumph. "Oh yeah, now I remember! Man, am I getting super smart or wha-" Then he realized the detail of the workout's next step.

Oh damn it all.

He walked to the area with boulders littering the ground with great resignation. The green-clad man with the caterpillars above his eyes must be bat-shit crazy to do this. After dreadfully reaching his destination he stared at the rocks with a somewhat blank look on his face.

"Guess I gotta do this if I wanna be Hokage someday..."

"Fuck me sideways, dattebayo!" he groaned as he lifted a boulder with his arms. Once there, he threw it in the sky and positioned himself to be as ready as he could.

 **X**

Naruto was lying down face up with his chest panting from the brutal workout he just endured. _'Thank kami my stamina is fucking awesome. I barely finished that madman's workout… I don't know how that guy can move like a damn snake while I move at the pace of a damn turtle.'_

Needless to say, walking laps around the training ground using only your hands was a tough workout, especially with a pretty giant-ass boulder balanced on your feet.

Well it wasn't giant, but hey, a big-ass rock on your feet that weighed nearly fifty pounds was pretty impressive… though Naruto saw the caterpillar man doing it with a boulder as big as a rhino.

' _Oh well, one day I'll get there… I mean that guy must be strong if he can do that crazy exercise-'_

Suddenly, Naruto was put on alert mode as he heard footsteps approach his location. He tried jumping to his feet only to fall down from the sudden head rush and muscle fatigue. He cursed himself for being in such a vulnerable position. "Fucking shit, I shouldn't have-!"

"Naruto? Is that you?!" came a very familiar voice.

The tension immediately dissipated from Naruto's body as he identified the source of the intruder. "Holy crap, Mizuki-sensei! Thank kami, it's just you! I thought you were someone who was gonna- erm, what are you doing here?"

Mizuki chuckled and feigned innocence. "Oh, I was just looking for you, actually. I've seen you train really hard and I have to say, I'm impressed… so impressed in fact I was wondering if you wanted to graduate a couple of years early."

Naruto's eyes widened at Mizuki's words. "What?! Are you serious, sensei?!" he asked excitedly.

Mizuki nodded with pseudo sincerity. "Why yes, I am Naruto. Now, let me tell you what you have to do to pass…"

Internally, Mizuki was sneering. _'Time for you to get what's comin' to you, you damn demon...'_

 **X**

Naruto panted heavily against a tree as he clutched the giant scroll close to his chest before he peered around the forested area to make sure no one had followed him. Seeing no one he slid down against the tree and plopped onto his rear. He took a deep breath and relaxed, allowing a proud smile to adorn his face.

He, Uzumaki Naruto, socially proclaimed 'dobe', had successfully stolen the Scroll of Seals from the Hokage tower itself!

' _Ha! No one can call me the dead-last anymore! I'd like to see them try and do what I just did!'_

Naruto adjusted his goggles from his forehead to his neck and wiped the sweat that accumulated on his viasge. He eagerly opened the scroll and peered at the list of jutsus.

"Mizuki-sensei told me I only had to learn one of these to graduate early… Should be easy enough, I think," he muttered to himself as he scanned the parchment. His gaze fell on one particular jutsu, the **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.**

"This jutsu allows the user to summon physical copies of themselves, however, the clone takes a lot of-" Naruto frowned, the next few words were blurred and had holes through them from the old age. "Ah, what the hell does it say? I can't see, dammit!"

Naruto squinted his eyes in hopes of making out any distinct words on the blurred out characters. "Damn. Whatever… where was I- ah. However, the user has many benefits from this jutsu. It can perform various jutsu on its own and on top of this, it can retain-"

Naruto swore loudly. "Bah! Fuck this boring horse shit! Nobody has time for all that! I'm just gonna learn it!"

 **X** **ONE HOUR LATER X**

"Wow, that was actually pretty easy… what the hell?! How come this one is so much easier than that damn regular bunshin…?" Naruto pondered briefly before shrugging. "Oh well, maybe there's another jutsu I can learn while I wait for Mizuki-"

"Naruto! What the hell are you doing?!" A shout from Iruka interrupted him. When Naruto turned his head toward his sensei he saw that he stood behind him with a somewhat disappointed face, although the blonde easily ignored the expression.

Naruto's visage immediately brightened upon recognizing the voice. He jumped to his feet and turned around. "Iruka-sensei! Oh man, I'm so glad you came early! I'm totally pumped to show you the new jutsu-"

"Naruto."

"-That I learned! It was actually really easy, I got it down in nearly half an hour-" Naruto continued babbling on.

"Naruto!" Iruka grew a tick mark on his head.

"-But I thought about how-"

" _Naruto_!"

"W-What!" Naruto stammered out in panicked fear.

Iruka took Naruto by the shoulders. "Naruto, this is serious. I need to know why you took the scroll."

The blonde looked confused. "For the test, sensei! Mizuki-sensei told me that if I was able to take the scroll from jiji's place and learn a jutsu I'd be able to graduate as an early genin!"

Immediately piecing the puzzles together, Iruka's expression darkened as understanding emerged on his face.

In a small voice, Naruto asked, "Iruka-sensei… am I in trouble?"

The scarred chunin's gaze softened. "No, Naruto. You didn't do anything but listen to what your sensei told you to do-"

Suddenly, Naruto threw up a frantic finger behind him and screamed. "Watch out, Iruka-sense-!"

Too late.

 _ **THUD!**_

Iruka's eyes widened with momentary surprise before pain took over his mind as his back was penetrated by a fuma shuriken. The scarred teacher gritted his teeth as he tried to rip the big hunk of metal from his flesh.

"Well, well, well… what do we have here?" Came an incredibly condescending tone. Immediately, Iruka turned around, albeit painfully, and confronted the source of the voice.

"Mizuki…" the injured chunin snarled.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you giant dipfuck?!" Naruto screamed while pointing an accusing finger at the light-haired chunin.

Seeing the blonde jinchuriki, Mizuki sneered with obvious disdain. "Shut up, you fool! You honestly thought _you_ of all people would've been given an earlier chance than someone like Uchiha Sasuke, the actual genius of the class?!"

A confused Naruto asked in a somewhat subdued voice, "B-but you said…" Realization dawned in Naruto's eyes as he puzzled the pieces together. _'He used me…'_

Anger bubbled up in Naruto's chest. "You piece of shit! I'm gonna kill you!" he screamed.

Instead of taking offense, Mizuki simply laughed deliriously. "Ha! _You,_ kill _me_? And how in the world is the dead-last demon of his class going to accomplish that?!"

Before Naruto could respond, Iruka growled. "Don't call him that, you traitor! You have no right to say anything!" He turned to Naruto and said, "I need you to run and get some backup for me, alright?"

Naruto nodded dumbly and took off scroll tucked to his chest with both arms.

Iruka then turned his glare to his childhood friend. "Mizuki, how could you?! Why would you stoop so low?!"

"Why the fuck are you protecting that demon?!" Mizuki sneered. "Did you forget that it also killed your parents?! Join me, and together we can kill the demon and erase his existence from-"

Iruka was already shaking his head. "No, you're wrong. He's not a demon… He's Naruto Uzumaki!" Iruka snarled as he wrenched the implanted piece of metal from his back. He then threw the fuma shuriken back at the pale-haired chunin.

Mizuki jumped onto a tree and latched onto it with chakra. He smirked haughtily. "Face it, Iruka, you were never a match for me to begin with and on top of that, you're injured… It's over."

Iruka clenched his hands and gritted his teeth. Even he knew it was mostly true. _'But I still have to try!'_ With that thought, he brought a kunai out and took a defensive stance. He had to try and buy Naruto as much time as he could.

 **X**

Naruto paused halfway through his run and slapped himself for his stupidity. What the hell was he doing?! He has the Kage Bunshin for kami's sake! He quickly formed the seal he had recently become acquainted with and three clones were formed.

"Go directly to Hokage-jiji and tell him about the situation!" The original Naruto ordered. It felt a little weird talking to his clones but he'd have to get used to it. When the clones nodded in affirmation, the original Naruto turned back the way he came from with a look of determination.

' _I won't let anything happen to Iruka-sensei!'_

 **X**

' _No…no, no, no, no, NO!'_ Naruto frantically thought as he looked at the lifeless form in front of him. How could this have happened…? It wasn't supposed to happen this way!

"Dammit!" Naruto cursed as tears ran down his face. He fell to his knees and pounded at the ground in depressing frustration and sobbed hysterically until he heard a sneering voice.

"What's wrong, demon boy? Does it feel bad to see your loved ones die at the hand of the demon!? Now you know how everyone in Konoha feel-"

" _Shut up_ …" Naruto growled.

Mizuki laughed mockingly. "Or what?! Are you gonna-"

Mizuki froze with fear.

This sensation… it hadn't been felt for nearly a decade but he would and could never forget it.

Even if he wanted to.

The pale-haired chunin broke out in cold sweat at the presence of the ferocious pressure exuding from the blonde boy in front of him, one thought dominated his mind.

' _The Kyuubi no Kitsune…!'_

 **X**

A man with half his face covered in bandage wrapping approached the tower accompanied by two others.

Shimura Danzo, previously a candidate for the Hokage position and ex-teammate of the current Hokage in office, was now an elder for Konohagakure. With his two fellow elders and former teammates alongside him he headed to the office of one Sarutobi Hiruzen. Koharu and Homura, the two that accompanied him, had a stern look on their wrinkly faces.

While it wasn't obvious from a first glance, their walk was full of tension and their strides carried a sense of urgency. Today was the last day to take action…

Upon reaching the office door the three elders ignored the protesting secretary and barged in.

Hiruzen turned an impassive gaze to the three who had intruded. He knew the reason as to why they had come. Their motives had been a pressing thought in his mind for the past few weeks.

Ever since the elders and he had caught wind of dissension amongst a particular doujutsu wielding clan, they engaged in a heavy discussion on how their next course of action should be taken.

Being the peace-loving senile he was, the Sandaime wanted to handle the situation diplomatically, hoping somehow that words would be able to diffuse the issue. However, Danzo and the other elders came today and demanded justice, no matter how brutal the method was.

"Hiruzen, the time is near and you promised us an answer! We must not waste time any longer! Their traitorous actio-!"

From the corner of his eyes, he saw a mop of blonde hair shrouded in a transparent red cloak in the all-seeing crystal ball.

The elders yelped in surprise when their ex-teammate ran out the door completely ignoring them.

 **X**

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure, had witnessed many dark moments in his life. He had seen families torn apart, the deaths of loved ones, comrades and fellow shinobi, and was of the few that saw the unfortunate brutality of all three Great Shinobi Wars.

But none could prepare him for the scene before him.

In front of him lied the savagely torn remains of the traitorous chunin Mizuki. Not a single shred of skin was left intact. Tissues, muscles and shattered bones were all strewn apart on the forest ground. Blood coated the once normally green grass red and a heavy trail of blood led to two forms on the ground.

Naruto was on his knees rocking back and forth clutching Iruka's head to his chest all the while sobbing with unrestrained sorrow.

A solemn expression took ahold of the Sandaime's face as he approached Naruto before gently placing a hand on the young jinchuriki's shoulder, making the grieving boy lift his face to meet his village leader's eyes.

Immediately, the Hokage knelt and the young blonde immediately clutched onto his robes desperately.

Naruto tried reigning in the turbulent emotion that coursed through him as the Hokage stood in front of him but failed miserably. He dreadfully dabbed at his face with his blood-coated sleeve trying to halt the liquid that manifested from his eyes, "I-I'm s-s-sorry, jiji… I d-don't k-know what- he kept c-calling me a d-demon- he k-killed Iruka-sensei- it was just s-so hectic! One m-moment I see r-red and the n-next, M-mizuki is d-d-dead-"

Hiruzen interrupted the young boy's babbling. "Naruto-kun, all of this was out of your control. You aren't at fault for anything, do you understand?" he said sternly yet gently.

Naruto shook his head despairingly. "I s-should've s-said no… he asked me to do this…" Hiruzen made to interrupt the young boy again but the blonde continued in a whisper. "Why, jiji…? What did I do to deserve this? What did I do to deserve everyone's hate…?"

He looked up to the Sandaime's face and gazed with teary eyes. "I'm tired of not knowing, jiji… I-I got I-I-Iruka-sensei k-killed because I was stupid and weak…"

The Sandaime took his shoulders and spoke in a firm yet warm voice. "Naruto-kun, believe me when I say this was not your fault. As to your request… we'll discuss that later… now sleep, my child, you don't need to worry. I'm here for you."

Naruto nodded, knowing that was the best he was gonna get out of the leader and felt his eyelids grow heavy. One last thought rang through his mind before he entered the blissful void of sleep.

' _I'll fix myself to be the best, Iruka-sensei… that's a promise of a lifetime.'_

 **X**

Naruto sat in the chair in front of the Hokage's desk and swung his feet in a bored childlike fashion. "Hey, when does he or she get here? I wanna start training, dattebayo!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen pinched the bridge of his nose in obvious agitation. It had been a whole two weeks since the Mizuki incident and he had kept Naruto with him in case of a mental breakdown, making sure that he'd be there for his surrogate grandson.

Yet it seemed as if he didn't need to worry because the boy was nearly back to normal. Hiruzen observed Naruto's every action from the beginning and all of the signs pointed to the theory that Naruto didn't remember killing Mizuki in his chaotic frenzy.

However, that wasn't why the Hokage was a bit irritated.

The problem was that Naruto was now obsessed with training for Kami knows why and the little blonde wouldn't stop bugging the old man about it. Hiruzen simply shook his head. "Naruto-kun, there was no guarantee that the person we were talking about would show up today, and besides, you know that the person is busy. How about you go home for today and come back tomorrow?"

Naruto's shoulders slumped at the thought of waiting another day. He plopped onto his two feet and replied in a grumpy tone. "Fine." He thought on what he should do. The academy was on a summer break so he literally had nothing to do. He could always pull some pranks but he didn't feel like it due to all the recent events.

Hiruzen exerted a tired breath as he watched the little blonde jinchuriki exit the office and went back to previous thoughts. The problem that was rising from a particular clan did not bode well for him or Konoha and he was sure the elders were going to come back sooner or later. He grimaced as he paged his secretary. "Maya-chan, please set up a meeting between the elders and I ASAP."

"Yes, Hokage-sama!"

Both Naruto and Hiruzen had forgotten what day tomorrow was.

October tenth, the day that the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked.

It was also Naruto's birthday.

 **X**

' _Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!'_

Naruto cursed himself for being such an idiot. How did he forget today?

Of all people, how could _he_ forget!?

Naruto stumbled to the ground as the pain in his leg finally caught up to him. _'I guess the adrenaline wore off now…'_ he grimly realized. He shakily got up to his feet only to fall again. "Damnmit!" he cursed. He looked over from the direction he came from and saw the mob generalizing towards his direction loosely.

Naruto chuckled darkly when he heard them scream out the usual bullshit.

"Find the demon!"

"He went this way!"

"Don't let the bastard escape!"

"Make him pay!"

If he had received a single ryo for all those phrases he had just heard, he'd have enough to buy out the entire Elemental Nations and then some. It was so fucking cliché and he heard it a shit ton of times more on this specific day than any other.

October tenth.

Yep, it was an absolutely great day for a birthday.

Naruto gritted his teeth in pain as he once again attempted to stand up. He had to get away now, otherwise the mob would catch him again.

Footsteps pounded towards Naruto's general direction as he hobbled along desperately, taking a glance back while moving, he failed to notice the figure right in front of him.

"Gotcha, you little bastard!"

 **X**

Naruto yelled in agony as a second kunai implanted itself into his calf. Surrounding him was mostly civilians and very few shinobi. Now that he effectively couldn't run they had him cornered.

Knowing this, Naruto simply curled up in the fetus position and closed his eyes. He tried protecting himself as best as he could by using his hands to cover his face, the seemingly primary target for the mob's punches and kicks.

Suddenly, all of the attacks ceased and he felt himself being taken ahold of by the arms and legs.

Trembling and shaking, Naruto fearfully opened his eyes to see himself being taken by the shinobi to outside the village walls. He strained and pulled with all of his effort to try and free himself but it was for naught. How the hell was a nine- well, ten-year-old supposed to free himself from some battle hardened shinobi?

' _Please… omeone… anyone…'_

He cried and whimpered for someone to save him, but it all went unanswered. If it weren't for the seriousness of the situation, he would've noticed that this was the first time he had been taken outside of the village walls.

"I'm s-sorry! I d-don't know what I did! I'll s-stop, just p-p-please let me g-go!" Naruto begged.

As an answer, one of the shinobi who was carrying him punched him square in the stomach, involuntarily forcing blood to cough out.

"Oh, don't worry, we won't kill you just yet. No, that would be showing you mercy. We're gonna make sure you suffer for years and years to come…" one of the shinobis spoke in a low voice.

The group of five shinobi then reached the forestry that surrounded the village and quickly entered the somewhat dense foliage. Without warning, Naruto was thrown and pinned against a very large oak tree.

The unmistakable sound of metal piercing skin resounded in the air followed by a loud scream of pain that broke with sobbing. The shinobi stepped back and admired their grotesque work.

Before them, the boy they believed to be the actual Kyuubi no Kitsune was crucified to the tree. Kunai implanted at his wrists and ankles prevented movement and caused Naruto continued crying helplessly while desperately apologizing for crimes he didn't commit.

A shinobi with an eye patch over his left eye stepped forward. Seeing how the other shinobi made a path for him, Naruto assumed he was the leader and looked at him with tears streaming down in torrents.

Speaking in a light tone that didn't fit the situation, the man spoke with a wide smile. "Nine years ago I lost part of my life. Nearly everything was taken from me; my family, my friends, my wife and even my children!" His demeanor took a one eighty as he slapped Naruto in the face without warning, causing the blonde to cry out in pain. In a low and angry voice, the one-eyed man said, "And as if that wasn't bad enough... _you_ just had to take my fucking eye!" Upon saying this, he lifted his eye patch and revealed a rotting eye socket.

Naruto felt his stomach content rising to his throat as he quickly averted his eyes downward. In the end, Naruto willed the stomach content down through sheer will power.

"Please… I won't say anything if you let me go…" Naruto whispered, face still stinging from the man's sudden blow to him earlier. He would have begged, but he was quickly losing energy. He was only hoping his words would placate the man.

Instead of answering his question, the man drew a kunai and twirled it around his finger. Gazing at the weapon as it glinted against the moonlight he spoke slowly. "You know… it really sucks only having one eye…" He directed his attention to Naruto and looked the young blonde in the eyes with a dangerous look. "Do you know where my eye is?" he asked as he tilted his head with a maniacal smile on his face.

Naruto shook his head slowly in fear, not trusting the words he'd let out... He didn't want to risk his answer angering the obviously deranged man.

"Oh, now that's a real bummer." The man frowned and looked crestfallen. His shoulder slumped and the kunai he was twirling around fell to a standstill as he looked down in a defeated manner. For a few seconds Naruto almost believed that he had somehow calmed the crazy man from any extreme actions.

Almost.

The man abruptly stood tall with a cheery smile on his face. "Well, you know how that saying goes… an eye for an eye!"

With that being said, the man smiled and approached Naruto with malicious intent.

 **X**

The mention of Naruto's name on this particular day made the Sandaime Hokage pale with unease.

They had just got done going over the report of the… _incident_ and Itachi had one last request before he was marked as a nuke-nin. Hiruzen had smiled sadly when he heard this. One of the few people Naruto had bonded with was now leaving all because of himself and the council.

Itachi's last request was to visit the blonde he had bonded with over the last year and a half before he left. That's when the weight of the current date decided to firmly stomp its way into his mind. That led to the both of them quickly striding over to the desk to use the crystal ball to locate him.

Once they looked through the crystal ball to find Naruto, much to their horror, they saw a group of ninja carrying him into the outer forest of Konoha. Immediately, the Hokage cursed himself for being such a fool. He knew what day it was, yet somehow, nearly every year around the same time, something always occupied him. It was not a coincidence, he theorized, the civilian council and majority of the shinobis wwere behind this somehow.

He just couldn't find any damnable evidence.

Itachi and the Sandaime used the **Shunshin no Jutsu** immediately to the front gates of the village. Recognizing that they were still in the immediate forest of Konoha, Itachi and Hiruzen had decided to split up to find the boy. Although this was their home village, the forest was just simply too damn big for them to automatically know where everything was at by heart.

"Itachi, if you find Naruto, bring him back immediately to the tower. If you find those responsible… you know what to do. However, you know you must immediately leave as soon as possible. The village will find out about what you did soon enough." The Sandaime spoke swiftly without remorse and only with absolute authority. It was the man known at The Professor and the Hokage speaking, not the loving grandfatherly figure to the people of Konoha.

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" Itachi instantly replied before running off to the east side of the forest.

The Sarutobi really wished at this moment that he could call on his jonin and Anbu but he needed to keep everything discreet if he were to grant Itachi's last request. With these thoughts, the Sandaime shot off in the opposite direction from Itachi.

 **X**

" **Kage Bunshin No Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)!"** Itachi whispered. Summoning three **Kage Bunshins** took a solid amount of chakra from Itachi, hence the reason he didn't create a lot more. It would be useless to summon thirty clones only to dispel them after thirty seconds or a minute. No, it would be more efficient to summon a few and have them be able to use a decent amount of chakra to help them find the young blonde. Immediately, they sped off in random directions in hopes of completing their tasks as quickly as possible. Itachi picked a direction where his **Kage Bunshins** hadn't gone to and sent chakra to his ears in hopes for a sign to the whereabouts of Naruto.

He immediately heard some rustling and pumped chakra through his legs to the source of noise. He ran and ran in hopes of finding-

"Tsk." Itachi stared at the cause of the noise with a frown. _'Just a squirrel…'_

If he didn't find the boy soon, he was sure the blonde would be severely injured or dead by the time they got to him. Itachi checked his reserves and seeing that he had about two thirds of it left, he summoned another set of three **Kage Bunshins** and sent them off in random directions.

He was getting desperate in finding the boy. He didn't know why but the blonde provided the companionship and feelings of a real little brother. Sasuke was more of a wannabe rival from the Hyuuga clan that only saw him as a motivational piece and that was it.

Every other shinobi held him in a rare reverence that stemmed from him being a young and accomplished shinobi that happened to be an Uchiha.

But Naruto was different.

Naruto treated him normally and didn't see him as a genius but as simply…

Itachi.

It was foolish for him to have developed a familial bond with the boy because he knew one day he had to eventually sever the bond. He knew this when he told the Hokage about the uprising in the Uchiha clan… but the little kid was a sphere of energy that had a gravitational pull about him once you got to know him.

Itachi sighed. Not to quote the Nara clan but it was quite 'troublesome'.

Again picking a different path from those of his clones, he quickly ran and pumped chakra through his legs once again. He ran up a tree and started taking the high route. Hopping from branch to branch, he broadened his senses to-

Suddenly, an agonized scream pierced the moonlit night.

Itachi froze.

Anger bubbling up in his core, Itachi activated the recently obtained **Mangekyou Sharingan** subconsciously and flared his **killing intent**. With inhumane speed, Itachi silently blurred through the thickets.

More people were going to die tonight.

 **X**

 **I apologize for the fast pace, I plan on slowing down and going more in depth from the chapters here on out… if you want me to continue this that is.**

 **Also, please review about the pairing:**

 **Naru x Ino or Naru x Anko or Naru x Temari**

 **Or Naru x Harem.**

 **I wouldn't mind either. I'm just leaning toward a single pair because I think I'd do a better job of a relationship but I think I can do harem… I hope. Lol. Please Review!**

 **-RandomHobo**

Edited by TheAmateurAJ: 10/8/2016


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Although it's not in any Naruto based communities, it's gotten a bigger jump start than I thought it would've. So for that, I thank you! 40 reviews and 74 followers on the first chapter alone! That's fucking amazing! Thank you all!**

 **Just to clear something up, NARUTO DOES NOT KNOW HE CONTAINS THE KYUUBI!**

 **A big shout out to DominoNamikaze2010! He found some errors with the first chapter where I wrote 'Natsu' when it should have been 'Naruto.' Thanks for pointing that out!**

 **To The Reviewers:**

 **Update (Guest): Update schedule will be once every three to five weeks So you can expect once a month at the very LEAST. School and work might complicate that so… yeaaaah.**

 **Sweetlilly90: I'm glad you enjoy it thus far, and about Iruka… Yeah… He didn't really play a pivotal role in Naruto's life unless you count him talking about Naruto not being a demon. So I added that in and killed him off. It's not that I don't like him… It was an idea in my head. And shit is indeed about to go down.**

 **Redkross: Yeah, you can expect it to LOOSELY, and I mean LOOSELY follow canon with great alterations. I'm only planning on deviating somewhat around chunin exams and even then, the main canon arc will be followed.**

 **Guest12344567 (Guest): Chapter two will be revealed, chapter three training, chapter four some training and possible time skip. Chapter five, last year at the academy. Any more than that revealed will be . I have more jumbled ideas so don't rely on that timeline. And by that I mean I could speed the process up or slow it down!**

* * *

"Speech"

' _thought'_

" **Jutsu: in use** **"**

' _ **Kyuubi/Summon thought'**_

" **Kyuubi/Summon speech"**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I OWN NUFFIN, except this bag of hot Cheetos that im shamefully indulging in at the moment.**

* * *

 **Allow Me to Re-Introduce Myself**

 **Chapter 2: A New Era.**

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Half a second.

That's all Naruto had before his senses kicked and realized there was an eight inch kunai in his eye. His first sensation was just the sense of intrusion being… _cold_.

Then it became hot.

Extremely hot.

Excruciating pain flared in his damaged orbital. Blood and serous fluid gushed out from his socket in an unrestrained torrent quickly coating the right side of his face with blood. Naruto's scream filled the night with agony only to be cut off by the blood leaking into his esophagus.

Spluttering and sobbing, Naruto spat out blood as he tried screaming out in pain, speak even, yet it was to no avail as the pain overrode his urge to emit any form of decibel.

For reasons unknown, the grunts of the shinobi group came forward and ripped the kunai out viciously from the boy's limbs and let the demon container drop to the floor like a heap of trash. Naruto immediately took to the fetal position and whimpered uncontrollably.

At the sight of this, the shinobis roared with laughter and continued jaunting at the jinchuuriki's expense. Everyone encircled the boy and took turns spitting and kicking at the 'demon boy.'

Suddenly, everyone froze as they felt as though a _very_ dangerous predator was in the vicinity.

Killer Intent took a hold of everyone like a giant wave had just crashed upon them. After a few moments of fear-induced stupor, the heinous group of shinobis looked around desperately trying to pinpoint the source of terror.

No one made a sound except for the still whimpering Naruto.

"You had _all_ made a grave mistake… **Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Racing Fire.).** " the voice whispered.

Suddenly, a figure jumped up into the night sky with his silhouette against the bright translucent moon. A pair of Sharingan-activated eyes stared bore holes into everyone's gaze as fire split into five directions; each toward their own target. Rapidly approaching them, the shinobis emptied their bladders as they knew it was too late to survive, screams of fear filled the forest before being silenced by their fate.

Itachi quickly dispelled his **Kage Bunshins** that were still searching and did a quick scan of his surroundings, ensuring that no more danger was present. After confirming that there was indeed no more danger present, Itachi approached the near-dead boy he came to know as a younger brother. Anger bubbled once again in Itachi's core as he realized what they did to the young boy.

Kneeling down to the sun-kissed blonde, he began healing the small wounds; he had a basic proficiency in medical Ninjutsu due to his Sharingan.; however, it was only basic… he wished now more than ever that he should have given more attention to it.

"You're late…" Naruto managed out with his good eye closed. He cracked a small smile, "Teme-nii-san."

Itachi shook his head with incredulously, _'You must be strong to make light of this horrendous situation Naruto…'_

"Don't talk Naruto, save your energy… you're going to need it." Taking the boy's silence as an answer, he continued to patch the minor injuries. To heal the jinchuuriki's broken bone was out of Itachi's medical ninjutsu's league, the basic healing would have to do for now…

Completing his simple healing process, Itachi then bit his thumb, " **Kuchiyose No Jutsu** **!** " a cloud poof'd and revealed a slightly larger than average crow.

" **Why did you summon me Itachi-san?"** asked the crow in a surprisingly deep baritone. The crow looked around his surroundings before looking at the boy with a kunai embedded in one of his eye socket. The crow's reaction looked disgusted; humans were the most barbaric organisms to walk this forsaken world.

"Kuro-san, I need you to find and relay a message to the Hokage, he should be easy enough to find if you search for his signature from the sky." The older Uchiha answered.

Kuro, the crow summon, simply nodded his affirmative, **"And what does this message entail?"**

"Please inform the Hokage that I had found Naruto and he'll be arriving shortly, please also inform him that…" Itachi leaned in and whispered something to the crow.

The crow's eyes widened with surprise, **"Are you sure you want to that? The repercussions could be severe, you especially don't know how that process could react! Especially cause of a certain…** _ **being**_ **that is held. No, I don't think you should go through with this, it'd be painful for the boy on and top of that, we would be uncertain in knowing if it would work-"**

"Go. I have made my decision, it must be done." Itachi interrupted with a stern voice. He had already put a great amount of thought behind this.

The crow looked apprehensive but eventually nodded; Itachi was one of the strongest shinobi this world had to offer, Kuro would trust in the genius of the Uchiha clan.

Itachi turned to the still form of one Uzumaki Naruto, he knelt down and called out softly, "Naruto."

Itachi grew worried as the boy with his good eye closed didn't respond. Just as he was about to act, The boy moved his hand to his cheek, almost touching the kunai that had been forcefully implanted into his socket. He held his hand there on the verge of making contact with the weapon before finally dropping his hand on his cheek.

"It hurts." Naruto whispered hoarsely, voice trembling full of pain.

"I know otouto… I know. But I need you to be brave for me, okay? Can you do that for me?" At Naruto's weak nod, Itachi continued, "The kunai ruptured everything in your eye, if I were to take it out, you will be blind in that one eye…"

"I figured as much…" Naruto said quietly with tight lips.

"However, if you choose to do so, I can replace it… but the process itself would hold an untold amount of pai-"

"No! I won't take your eye just so I can see Itachi-nii! I'd rather go blind than hurt someone I love!" Naruto spoke loudly with ferocity. Screw that! He wasn't no sissy bitch!

Itachi gave an amused smile, not that Naruto could see, "Always thinking about others Naruto-kun… sometimes it's good to be selfish."

Naruto managed a small pained smile, "Hell yeah I'm always thinking about others… heroes always think about others and they get all the ladies dattebayo…" he chuckled weakly, "just kidding… brooders like the teme always get em… which is complete bullshit by the way."

Itachi again looked at the boy with slight awe, _'Just how do you do it Naruto? Always remaining strong and steadfast…'_

"I wouldn't be using my eyes… so you don't have to be worried-"

"Oh gross Itachi-nii! I'm not gonna use one of those bastards' eyes! They just assaulted me so screw them and their shitty-"

"Not theirs either." Itachi said quickly, placating the boy into silence.

Naruto remained silent before speaking slowly, "… If it's not yours… and if it's not theirs… then whose?"

Itachi pulled out a vial that contained a pair of eyes and briefly thought back to the conversation he had with the Sandaime Hokage.

* * *

 **: FLASH BACK STARTS :**

* * *

 _Sarutobi sat silently in his office contemplating his recent decision. Did he really make the right choice? Would his predecessors have condoned his decision or would they have chastised him?_

 _Unfortunately, he would never find out._

 _Regardless of his decision, he couldn't fight off the intrusion of guilt that had seeped into his soul._

" _It has been done Hokage-sama." Came an emotionless voice._

 _Despite the monotonous tone of the speakers voice, Sarutobi Hiruzen knew there was an emotional turmoil warring inside the young man. He knew what he had forced on the young adult was an unbearable weight that could never be fully alleviated._

 _Sarutobi clenched his jaw as he spoke with guilt and sorrow riddling his voice. He avoided eye contact with_ _the genius,_ "I _am truly and sincerely sorry, I wish it had never came to this-"_

" _I will do whatever it is to keep this village safe Hokage-sama. I nearly regret nothing, however I would like to tell you I had failed in one aspect…"_

 _Sarutobi gave a sad smile, "I would have never expected you to kill your own otouto… Even I know that you're not the perfect ninja... Now I have to ask, did you perform the_ _ **Tsukiyomi**_ _on young Sasuke-kun… and were you able to obtain the_ _ **Mangekyou Sharingan?**_ _"_

 _Itachi shook his head, "I simply knocked my little brother out, I didn't see a reason to put him through such torture, the… 'incident' tonight should be well enough to motivate him to be stronger…" Itachi's fist clenched ever so slightly, this did not go unnoticed by Sarutobi as Itachi continued, "And I was successful in killing S-Shisui Uchiha successfully obtaining the_ _ **Mangekyou Sharingan**_ _without using his eyes… However, I would like to take them as keepsakes Hokage-sama, if you don't mind that is…"_

 _Sarutobi understood immediately, the bond between the two Uchihas was akin to brotherhood. It forged upon being the talented and young prodigies always together during countless life-threatening missions and perilous situations._

 _Sarutobi waved the Uchiha's hesitation off, "It's fine Itachi-kun, it's the least I could do for you, especially after all you've done for us."_

 _Itachi then cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly, "Actually hokage-sama, there is one more thing I would ask of you… if it was alright with you, I would like to make one more visit to one Uzumaki Naruto…"_

 _The Sandaime froze._

 _The mention of Naruto's name on this particular day made the Sandaime Hokage paled with unease._

' _How could I have forgotten?'_

* * *

 **: FLASH BACK ENDS :**

* * *

"Don't worry about trivial matters like that, just answer the question Naruto… yes… or no?" Itachi spoke sternly, despite the quietness of his voice.

Naruto took several painful breaths before he gave an answer. Grimacing, he spoke slowly, "Well… Not much of a choice if I want to keep my eyesight I suppose…"

Naruto tilted his head towards Itachi, this action elicited a giant wince from the young blonde. Naruto held himself still and let the pain dull out before he asked, "As long as it's not your eye I'm fine with it Tachi-nii."

Itachi allowed himself a small smile as he tried to steel his nerves. He didn't know anything about surgical processes but he hoped he didn't need to; when he was healing the minor cuts and bruises, he felt the deeper lacerations and broken bones healing on its own. When he focused his attention, he felt a malevolent chakra at work... he suspected it had something to do with the Kyuubi No Kitsune.

On that piece of information alone, was what Itachi was basing this whole eye operation on; he was relying on the seemingly miraculous healing prowess of the Kyuubi.

In the small amount of time since he had since the situation made itself known, he put an impressive amount of thought into his next course of action. In the precious moments he had to think, he ended up deciding that the risk would be worth it. Even if the procedure failed, it would still result with the loss of an eye…

And if it succeeded, then Naruto would come out stronger than ever; hopefully to the point where nothing even remotely similar to this situation would ever occur. So if that was the reward from all this, Itachi would have to risk it… This would be the last time he'd ever be able to watch out for Naruto for a long, very _long_ , time.

He just hoped it would pay off.

Quickly muttering a quick " **Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!** ", Itachi ordered his shadow clone to pick up the blonde into a more comfortable position. As soon as that was done, Itachi set the vial that contained Shisui's eyes onto the ground next to the jinchuuriki lying flat on his black. Kneeling next to the side of Naruto's face with the kunai stuck in it, he gently tried tugging the kunai out only to find it stuck.

Naruto involuntarily let out a yelp of pain at Itachi's action. Despite the Uchiha's good intention, Naruto couldn't help but scowl slightly; Of course, any facial movement that even slightly contracted the muscles around Naruto's right eye flared a sudden increase in pain.

So he yelped again.

' _Man this fucking sucks... man from here on out, my luck better multiply into infinity and freakin beyond cause I_ _am tired of all this freakin bull crap_... _'_ he thought as the pain dulled to a more bearable amount.

"Naruto, I'm gonna have to heat up the kunai with flames slowly so it doesn't stay lodged in your socket, I'm going to heat it from the handle so I don't burn the rest of your face... In other words…"

"… It's gonna hurt like a bitch." Naruto finished.

Itachi let out a small "Hn" in affirmative. Naruto grimaced once more, _"_ Well, sooner always better than later right…"

Itachi summoned another **Kage Bunshin** on top of the other one. Ordering them to hold Naruto down, Itachi quickly placed his hands on the handle and used an extremely simple **Katon** **jutsu** to coat his hands with flames.

Naruto gave a loud gulp as he waited for the kunai to heat up. He didn't have to wait long as he felt the metal starting to heat up to the point of it being similar to luke-warm. Naruto's pace of breath quickened from the anxiety of waiting.

Despite the brave face he put on, this whole thing was actually quite freaking scary.

Naruto didn't know why he expected the pain to be sudden, but he did. Every time he experienced pain, the suffering was always delivered swiftly. Should be the same for this time, right?

Kami was he wrong.

The first sign of his error was the fact he was becoming extremely uncomfortable- Well as uncomfortable as you could get with a kunai already embedded into your socket.

Naruto gritted his teeth as he felt a small degree of burn, "Can you pull it out now?"

A short tug that led to more pain answered him, "It's not hot enough yet… and I can't go any faster or I might cauterize the flesh around the wound. That would effectively seal this kunai as a permanent fixture to your face… I'm sorry but bear with me otouto." Itachi murmured.

Naruto let out a strained noise indicating pain was building up. He clenched his jaws and grinded his teeth furiously. He fingers penetrated the ground as he exerted pressure; hoping somehow that grasping at something tightly would dull the ever increasing pain.

He thrashed against the shadow clones restraining grip on him to no avail. He cried out desperate pleas for Itachi to stop; to end the suffering. In response, Itachi continued whispering encouragements that fell to deaf ears.

Right as the pain reached the apex of Naruto's tolerance, the pain immediately died down to a small ache eliciting a somewhat relieved gasp from the jinchuuriki. "I-i-is it out?" he whispered as he opened his one good eye to see Itachi smile and nodding.

Naruto shut his one eye tightly and bared his teeth as the open air felt hit his gaping socket; it felt like a brick ton of salt against an open wound.

He took in a deep shuddering breath as he adjusted to the strange emptiness and pain of his eye socket, "Now this is the hard part right?"

Itachi hesitated a bit before answering. Pursing his lips, he spoke unsurely, "Naruto… I really don't know what is gonna happen but I believe you should and can expect pain… and lots of it. I'm going on a whim here as to this final step… do you still want to continue?"

One sapphire eye stared at Itachi dully, "I-I don't k-know… I-i-im scared… I d-don't think I can h-handle this…" Naruto finally whispered out as tears escaped his eye freely. Naruto didn't know why he had to be so weak, it should have never turned out this way… If only he had been-

"You _are_ strong." Came the quiet yet stern voice of the only Uchiha present.

Naruto shook his head, "No… I was never strong… I couldn't even protect Iruka-sensei and I can't even protect myself-"

Itachi lifted his hand briefly and flicked the whiskered boy on the forehead, "Don't be a baka otouto… You are more strong than you'll ever know, trust me."

Hearing those words brought a strange effect In Naruto. He still felt all the negative emotions but the words of his 'older brother' instilled a new sense of security in him, if the genius amongst genius saw something in him, perhaps he himself can one day see it.

"Thank you nii-san…" Naruto whispered. He looked up towards the night sky and continued, "I think I'm ready."

Itachi patted the boy's head before giving a grim nod, "Let us begin."

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Naruto had thought he had known pain to an intimate level.

Well Sally fucked that notion sideways and tossed it in the trash.

Cause what he felt at this moment…

 _That_ was pain.

He tried screaming but he found his throat parched and was barely able to whimper. He tried thrashing against the **Kage Bunshins** that were restraining him. He tugged and kicked but it was to no avail as he felt his world explode with pain…

Yet underneath all that pain… he felt something incredibly difficult to describe… he felt… something _different_. As vague as that was, it was the truth.

Yet if he had to describe the strange sensation, he would have to say…

Evil.

However-thank kami- the feeling Naruto had felt lasted for a few seconds seeing as to how he passed out from the pain.

Again, _thank_ kami.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

' _Ugh… where am i… why does my head feel like it's been hit with a Fuma Shuriken? I wonder if nii-san is still here-"_

"Itachi-nii?"

Hearing no response, Naruto groggily awoke to an all too familiar place, albeit blurry, he knew exactly where he was. The familiarity of the place assaulted his sensitive senses; the clean anti-bacterial scent attacked his already-sensitive nose. The whiteness of the room and the texture of his clothing- which felt much like a gown- were dead giveaways as to where he could be.

Yeah, he knew exactly where he was.

A place that he hated waking up to: Konoha's hospital.

That or he was at some crazy OCD freak's house with an extreme hospital fetish.

Naruto groaned as he tried moving. His body felt like complete crap; everything fucking hurt and he was sore as hell, _'What the hell caused this? Last thing he remembered was-'_

The memories hit him like a tidal wave. Naruto closed his eye and took a deep breath. He opened his eye just realized that that his vision was supplied only from the left side. From his other optical perspective… he simply saw pitch black.

"I guess it didn't work…" Naruto spoke softly to no one in particular. With great difficulty, Naruto sat up straight with a severe wince and groaned, "Fucking shit! that hurt like a motherfuc-"

"Now now Naruto-kun, do I need to wash your mouth out with soap?" came a somewhat amused voice.

Naruto looked up to see the one and only Sandaime Hokage standing in the door way. Although he spoke with an amused tone, his visage was dead serious.

Averting his gaze, Naruto murmured dejectedly, "Hey jiji…"

"How are you feeling Naruto-kun?"

"Like shit."

The Sandaime let out a mirthless chuckle as he approached the bed Naruto was sleeping on. Rolling a wheeled chair closer so he could sit and converse more easily, this talk wouldn't be easy… the Sandaime sighed.

"I guess that's a given after what had happened last night…" The Sandaime rubbed his chin in a thoughtful manner.

"Where's nii-sa-" Naruto caught himself quickly, "-Itachi?"

Sarutobi frowned, why didn't the Uchiha prodigy tell the jinchuuriki? Sarutobi hesitantly spoke, "Naruto… Itachi betrayed Konoha."

Naruto frowned, "Haha… jiji, I'm not really in the mood for jokes so can you seriously tell me where he's at? Or send him here?"

"Naruto… I'm sorry… But I am being completely serious when I say he massacred the Uchiha clan last night…"

Naruto stared at the Sandaime desperately looking for any signs of joke but he only found regret and sorrow on the face of the man he saw as grandfather.

Naruto then looked forward with his one eye. His gaze took in everything yet he saw nothing. The sapphire-colored eye dulled; much like a gemstone covered in sheets of dust. His thoughts ran a million miles per second. How could he do this to Konoha? Why would he do that to his family…

Why would Itachi leave him?

That had hurt the most. He knew they bonded like a little brother would with an older brother.

Didn't Itachi know he was one of his most precious person? Naruto only had him and the jiji. He had to have known, Naruto had told him a million times.

Tears started to fall out as Naruto clenched at his heart, desperate to placate the heartbreaking ache. His chest shuddered with short and uncontrolled breathing.

Naruto glanced at the Sandaime and suddenly felt angry. He clenched his jaws and tightened his fist, _'Why is this shit always happening to me?! It's not fair!'_ frustrated tears started to stream out of his open eye. _'How come the supposed leader of our village fail so miserably at preventing pain-'_

"Are you alright Naruto-kun?" came the worried voice the Sandaime.

"Fucking fantastic jiji. This year had been abso-fucking-lutely amazing! Couldn't you tell?" He spat out venomously

The Sandaime placed a gentle hand on Naruto's shou,"I'm sorry Naruto, just know that in time, everything will be better-"

Shoving the old man's hand away forcefully Naruto spoke coldly, "Don't touch me."

Sarutobi smiled sadly, the boy was in the right to feel angry. All he could do is be patient and hear the child out, "Tell me what's wrong Naruto-kun."

"Tell yo- are you fuc- TELL YOU WHAT'S WRONG?!" he asked incredulously. He glared at the village leader, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN!? ARE YOU SERIOUSLY THAT OLD THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN TELL WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG?!"

Naruto took a forced breath as he closed his eye, "Well let me tell you _Hokage-sama_ " he spoke of the formal title with obvious sarcasm before continuing, "In this month alone, I had lost nearly half of the people that care for me. The two people that was actually willing to protect me-"

"Naruto-kun, you know I do my best to try and protect you-"

"BULLSHIT JIJI! And you know it!" He pointed a finger to the eye that been destroyed, "How the hell did this happen if you try your best to protect me?! YOU'RE THE FREAKING HOKAGE!" He gritted his teeth, "I want to know why this happens to me. Every year jiji, this happens to me. I want to _know_ why!"

"Naruto-kun… I'm sorry, I can't tell you because it's a classified S-ranked secret-"

Naruto grinded his teeth and let out a frustrated growl, "Then when will it be okay?! When I get raped? Next year when I die?!" Naruto spat out.

Sarutobi took on an aghast look, _'Is this how you truly feel Naruto-kun? I had no idea… he must've been holding it in for so long…'_

"Naruto-kun, I would never let that happen to you! From here on out, I'll double the Anbu-"

Naruto scoffed, "The fucking Anbu? Are you fucking serious!"

"WHERE WAS THE ANBU WHEN I WAS GETTING MY EYE CARVED OUT?" Naruto yelled with angry tears rolling down his face. He was about to continue his angry ventilation when a sudden sleepiness sensation took ahold of him.

"Whatever _Hokage-sama_ , I'm done… leave me alone" Naruto muttered as he went to lay back down. He turned his back to him, effectively ignoring the sad face on the wizened old man.

"Very well Naruto-kun… just know that I love you and better days will come for you."

If Naruto had heard him, he certainly gave no indication that he did. Silence ensued as the Hokage took his leave.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed as he walked outside into the hallway, "Did you hear all of young Naruto-kun's words?"

Itachi looked at the door of the jinchuuriki's and sighed, briefly thinking over last night's event.

* * *

 **: : : FLASH BACK STARTS : : :**

* * *

 _Itachi sighed in relief as the malevolent chakra seemed to be doing proper reconstruction of Naruto's eye. As soon as he coaxed (Read: shoved) Shisui's eye into Naruto's bleeding socket, a dark and evil chakra immediately emerged and snaked its way from Naruto's naval area to up his chest and slithered along the neck until it finally went towards his orbital socket._

 _Almost immediately, the burnt skin of Naruto's returned to its natural tanned hide. Tendrils reconnected themselves along with various muscles and connective tissues. As this was happening Naruto screamed only to have it turn into a pitiful whimper._

 _Itachi closed his eyes and sent a silent prayer to whatever Kami that was out there to help the boy. To do anything to ease the boy's pain._

 _Itachi's prayer seemed to have been answered as the boy seemed to fall into an unconscious state. Itachi's worry eased a bit; he had thought his surrogate brother had died but the yuubi's chakra was still at work. However, instead of the chakra only reaching the eye, it had now spread and encased his whole body with the chakra._

 _As soon as Itachi's_ _ **Kage Bunshins**_ _came in contact with the chakra, their hands corroded a bit before dispelling._

 _Itachi sat down and closed his eyes. Tears streamed out of the prodigy's eyes. It had been such an exhausting past twenty-four hours. The incident involving his clan had affected him more than he had let on. As much as he'd like to be the perfect shinobi; one without emotion, he just… couldn't._

 _How could someone kill their friends, best friends, and their family without feeling such a thing?_

 _Itachi was strong, a genius amongst a genius._

 _But he was not a monster._

 _He still felt every emotion torrent through him just as any other human. He looked upon the night sky and spoke to no one in particular, "Shisui… I am so sorry… for everything." He looked at the boy covered in the bijuu's chakra, "But know that you will live on through him in a way, he is strong-minded and strong-willed much like you…"_

 _His tears stopped as he let out his feelings. It had been way too long since he had shown any emotions.._

 _A few minutes later, Itachi sighed once again in relief as the chakra-enveloped boy seemed to thin out to the point where it wouldn't be fatal to come in contact with for a few minutes.. Itachi knew not to touch the boy when the vile chakra was so thickly saturating the boy's figure._

 _However, he didn't have much time left, he had to leave soon._

 _So without a single care in the world, He picked the young boy up while the chakra ate at his clothes and skin, albeit slowly. Itachi gritted his teeth, 'This pain is nothing compared to Naruto's suffering.'_

 _He hugged the boy tighter to his chest despite the pain, a lone tear fell into the cheek of unconscious boy._

" _I'm sorry for everything otouto…'_

* * *

 **: : : FLASH BACK ENDS : : :**

* * *

"The boy is in pain, hopefully time will be able to mend his heart."

Itachi wordlessly nodded in agreement with a slight frown on his face, he could practically feel the emotions rolling off from the young jinchuuriki's room. "Hokage-sama, why didn't you tell him of his other eye?"

"In all truth, I was going to… but he is emotionally distraught at the moment and I don't believe being emotionally stable with a **Sharingan** in your eye is not a very good mix…" the old man said honestly.

Itachi nodded, the Uchiha clan was indeed a bit unstable like that… His father, nearly all his uncles and elder were power-crazed and tended to get a bit… _crazy_. Shaking his head from his thoughts,

"Will I be allowed to see him one last time?"

Sarutobi hesitated before shaking his head, "Itachi… I'm sorry, but you can't now, I know this isn't how you wanted to leave the village but for Konoha's sake, you need to go… Again, I can't express how sorry I am for making you shoulder this whole ordeal-"

"I knew what consequences my decisions would reap, I am happy to be of use Hokage-sama. I will be in contact with you soon."

Sarutobi watched as the loyal but now nuke-nin (Missing ninja) bow before turning to leave. But before Itachi made use of a **shunshin** , he spoke softly but clearly.

"Please watch over them both Hokage-sama."

With that being said, Itachi Uchiha left the place he had called home for his whole entire life; Konohagakure No Sato would now be nothing but a memory.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Naruto felt himself being reeled from his dream into the real world; Eventually, after his little rant with the hokage, he had fallen asleep…

Lying down and closing your eyes for an extended period of time would eventually do that to you he supposed.

He sighed as he recollected the events that had happened before he childishly ignored the hokage, the one person who he had considered family. Ayame-nee-chan and Teuchi-ojisan were close in terms of bonds, but the hokage-jiji was his jiji damnit!

He needed to apologize.

As if sensing his inner turmoil, several knocks were heard followed the sound of the door opening announced someone was coming in. Naruto glanced up with his one good eye and saw the telltale sign of the village leader's robe.

Despite his thoughts of making amends with the old man, he childishly pouted and turned his head away immaturely.

Hey, before anyone judges, he _is_ a child and he most definitely _is_ immature!

And besides, it's tough to forgive someone.

The Sandaime, seeing that Naruto seemed to have lost most of his previous' night's hostility, smiled.

"How are you feeling Naruto-kun?"

"Better." Came an impassive voice.

"Maa maa, Naruto-kun, for much longer are you gonna keep this angry façade up?"

"What!? How can you ask me something like that especially…" Naruto began ranting.

The Sandaime spoke quickly, "Ahem, YouHaveYourOtherEyeButYou'reAnIdiot."

"…when I went through the most out of anyone- wait what!?"

Sarutobi simply chuckled before answering, "I believe you heard correctly…"

"Are you high out of your mind old man?!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen sweat dropped, "Naruto, I am very much serious and very much sobered, you have two functional eyes-"

"Two functional eyes would mean I can see out of both sides jiji…" Naruto blatantly pointed out.

"Yes I am well aware of that, but-"

"Listen jiji, I forgive you but only on the condition that you stop taking drugs, I don't really know what brought you to the point that you needed to start taking drugs but- OW!" Naruto felt two hands grab him and lift him with surprising ease. "HEY! I'M STILL SORE AND MY HEAD STILL HURTS! LET ME DOWN YOU OLD JIJI-BAKA!"

Sarutobi had grown tired of the admonishment of a child, so here he was, taking said child and walking to the bathroom. He plopped him on a chair that he had brought with him.

The blonde jinchuuriki crossed his arms and huffed as he glared at the Hokage of Konoha, "What kind of fucked up drugs are you taking to make you do all this weird shit jiji!?"

Shaking his head in exasperation, Sarutobi Hiruzen simply pointed at the mirror, "The reason you couldn't see out of your _other_ eye is because of that!"

Naruto scoffed as he turned to look in the mirror, "What the hell are you talkin about- Oh."

Naruto blinked.

"Oh."

 _That_ was the problem?

Are you fucking kidding me?!

Naruto groaned, "I AM SUCH A COMPLETE MORONIC IDIOT!"

Sarutobi nodded in agreement, "Indeed you are."

Naruto sighed as he stared in the mirror, he couldn't believe that _this_ misled him to believe that he didn't have a proper set of eyes.

Of course he would see pitch black if there was a shit ton of bandage wrappings around his eye.

It was so tightly wrapped around his head it was probably the cause of his damn near migraine. He began unwrapping the gauze.

As he continued unwinding the bandage wrapping from his head, he began fumbling with the bandage wrap due to increased excitement with a hint of anxiousness; it was getting too much for him, will he have the some crazy colored eyes? He continued pondering what kind of eye color it could be hopefully it was anything but black. He didn't want to look anything like Sasuke-teme. Oh! Maybe it'd be a vibrant green like Sakura- Oh! Or maybe even gold! Yeah! Gold would be cool-

Eh?

He had just unfinished wrapping the bandage and leaned forward with anticipation to scrutinize every little detail of change….

Except… there was no change. Staring back at him was the exact eye that should have been completely decimated from existence…

Right?

Thinking back, he couldn't really remember what became of his eye that night. It was sort of tough with… well, you know.

Anyways, back to reality, where nothing was different. He cocked his face to the side and blinked furiously, "Jiji! Is this my eye?! It looks the exactly the same!"

The Sandaime found himself chuckling once again, "No my boy, that eye belongs to the one and only Shisui Uchiha… Do you know of him?"

"Yeah… _Itachi_ mentioned him tons of time, something about them being rivals and brother in arms."

"Indeed they were… Shisui along with Itachi were renowned **Sharingan** users; they were among the best in the Uchiha clan if not the top two. Nearly every Uchiha who had unlocked their doujutsu seemed to have some passive ability unlocked unique to them." Sarutobi looked at Naruto's right eye thoughtfully, _'Hmm… I wonder if he will possess the_ _ **Sharingan**_ _?'_

"Whoa whoa whoa! Wait a second! So Itachi actually killed the whole clan off?!" At the jiji's nod, Naruto yelled, "So why the hell did he give me this eye?!"

"Perhaps he saw something in you… we may never know…"

"Ne, jiji! does this mean I have a- the sharingan?" he started off excitedly, but ended up slightly frowning, **"** it certainly doesn't feel like it... and from the looks of it, it feels like my other one."

The Sandaime stared at the boy intently, "Hmm... I honestly don't know Naruto, your body adapted to it well enough, _someone_ did a remarkable job of patching you up. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see."

Naruto looked at the mirror intently, _'What the hell were you thinking nii-san?'_

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Due to the whole _incident_ that involved a certain traitorous Uchiha and his clan, Sarutobi Hiruzen canceled the academy classes for a whole month.

A WHOLE FUCKING MONTH!

' _What the hell am I supposed to do now?!'_ Naruto thought, a tad bit annoyed at the fact that he had nothing to do. He was currently walking in a **Henge** of a non-descript civilian.

' _I guess I can go train… I wonder if the caterpillar guy is out there…'_

He was near the Inuzuka compound when he heard a whimper. Naruto stopped for a brief second contemplating whether or not it was worth the trouble to actually sate his curiosity before walking on; he didn't want to really deal with anything. He found that his curiosity often led him to more trouble than any good-

Another whimper.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuck!" he groaned as his body moved on its own will toward the pained whimpering. He continued walking around until he reached an area of alleyways. Occasionally pausing and preening his ears when he entered the maze of alleyways, he took on a satisfied expression when he heard he was getting closer by the second.

Dropping his **Henge** in a plume of smoke, he quickened his pace to a run when he heard a pained bark and _several_ threatening growls. When he rounded a corner, he saw a puppy that was the size of a large adult fist. Surrounding the small dog were several larger dogs baring their teeth at the obviously injured puppy.

The puppy itself had a black fur coat with hints of orange around his body's underside and paws.

Naruto clenched his fists; if there was one thing he hated, it was bullies. Subconsciously letting out **KI** (Killer Intent), Naruto picked up a lead pipe lying on the floor and roared. However, the lead pipe was not needed as the dogs cowered at the unintentionally leaked **KI**. Naruto stared after the dogs that were bullying the pup for several seconds before returning his attention to said pup.

Naruto tentatively held a hand out to the nearly all black puppy only to see it bare it's tiny canines at him. Naruto frowned, it was obvious that the puppy wasn't used to any form of help. Naruto's frown became even more pronounced when he noticed how malnourished the pup looked.

' _Wow… this puppy reminds me of…well…me.'_ Naruto sadly thought. Naruto brought out a piece of jerky that he had been saving for himself as a treat and offered it to the young pup while crouching; ever slowly trying to approach the small dog.

As he drew closer with the piece of meat, the dog growled and snapped at the drawing hand. Naruto stopped in his tracks and sat. The dog needed some treatment but without trust, Naruto couldn't get near him.

So he'd wait, patiently. Even if patience wasn't his strong suit.

And wait he did.

A staring contest ensued between both occupants of the alleyway. For what seemed like a century, the two continued staring until the pup finally gave up. A small smiled tugged at Naruto's lip as he saw the dog extend its neck toward the jerky that had been placed on the ground all the while staring at Naruto with suspicion.

Suddenly, the dog snapped out and took the piece of jerky, immediately retreating with its back to the wall. The injured pup scarfed the jerky down in a heartbeat. Then it promptly fell over from what seemed to be exhaustion.

Naruto sighed in relief as he scooped the young canine into his arms, now all he had to do was find a place that could take care of the pup. Naruto frowned as he realized that most likely no one would care for anything that had any relation to the blonde.

Realizing where he was near, a metaphoric light-bulb appeared above his head.

' _Duh! How could I forget? We're near Kiba's place! I think… it certainly smells like him…'_ Naruto thought as his senses picked up on a somewhat familiar scent. Kiba wasn't exactly his friend but they got along well enough as classmates. Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji were the few that treated him indifferently… They were the closest things he could call a friend.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Kiba laughed boisterously as he chased his little furry companion down. Yep this was the life, getting a pup and then spending the rest of your days-

Kiba halted his game of tags and looked up sniffing the air, _'Huh… I know that smell… If I'm not mistaken, this smells like the dob-'_

"KIBAAAAAAAA!" came the unmistakable voice of the whiskered boy.

' _Yep, that's definitely Naruto.'_ Kiba smirked.

The puzzling thing was that there was another smell that accompanied the pariah. It sort of smelled like a dirty dog.

Kiba wrinkled his nose and narrowed his eyes, he also smelled a bit of blood…

His suspicions were confirmed as Naruto came running around the corner panting with a bundle of fur in his arms. Kiba, immediately jumping to conclusions, started screaming accusations at the jinchuuriki.

If it weren't for the severity of the situation, Naruto would have rolled his eyes. Instead, he ran up to the red-marked face tatted boy and gave him a good and solid kick between the legs.

Kiba's scream changed from accusing screams to a pained one.

Naruto winced, no guy should ever have to go through that.

Meh, whatever, it had to be done… Well, there were probably some other ways that Naruto could have stopped the incessant rambling of the Inuzuka heir but he didn't really have time.

So one kick to the family jewels would have to do.

Naruto then explained, "Listen here you ass! I found this pup being manhandled by some bigger dogs so I went and _rescued_ it you jerk!"

At this, Kiba weakly nodded and groaned in pain.

"Anyways, I don't really know any hospitals or vets near here so this is probably the best choice." Naruto lied, he was fully aware of the various medical treating establishments but he knew they didn't like him for some odd reason he himself couldn't depict.

"So that's why I'm here, this pup needs to be treated and you were nearby so here we are! Now get up and treat the pup you wimp!" Naruto finished in a somewhat rushed manner; It'd do no good to be caught around hanging here… he didn't know how much of the shinobi populace hated him but he wasn't willing to find out if the Inuzuka clan shared the hatred.

Naruto helped his classmate up and thrusted the dog into the boy's arms, "so I can trust you to handle it right?"

Kiba nodded and closely examined the puppy, the puppy was bleeding but it wasn't too severe. If anything, the cause for the unconsciousness might've been a slight infection or malnourishment, possibly both. Upon further observations, Kiba's eyes widened, "Oi oi oi! This is a Tibetan Mastiff and Gray Wolf hybrid! Naruto! Where the hell did you find this pup! This is super freaking rare- Naruto?"

Kiba looked up to find the sun-kissed blonde gone. Kiba sighed, "Whatever, I'll just take it to mom… Come on Akamaru, let's get going!"

* * *

 **X**

* * *

 **A/N: And that clocks this story in at roughly 7.8 k! To be honest, you can expect chapters to be this long (Or short, however you see it.). My first chapter was almost 10 k because I wanted to get the story rollin. If I were to do another 3 k, it'd probably take me a couple weeks cause I'm so slow at writing and editing… lol**

 **BY THE WAY, Pairing is leaning towards Harem. i'm gonna keep it small. At the moment, the for sure girls in the harem is Anko and Ino. everyone demanded this practically so gratz, they are in. these two happened to be some of my favorite. Cheers! Out of curiosity, how do you guys feel about Sakura being in the harem?  
**

 **Anyhow! Drop a review? Could be questions, feedback, flames. I WILL TAKE ALL OF IT AND EAT IT!  
**

 **Those are the only things that can speed up my update ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you ALL for your reviews, favorites, and follows! 20 something reviews and the story has 140 followers now! I appreciate every single one of them! By the way, if you want to play a part to this story, I have a poll open for Team selections! Go ahead and vote please! Reminder at the other end of a/n!**

 **To the Reviewers:**

 **Shigure Toshiro: Ah, I meant to imply that the kunais in Naruto was taken out; not the kunais in his eye. Sorry! I reconstructed the wording to clarify it a bit more!**

 **95: Lol. The pink banshee made me laugh… however, we will see on the pairing. I'll have a poll out later for pairings. Your comment has been taken into consideration though!**

 **Aramus13: haha! Samuel L Jackson's voice would be pretty epic lol. By the way, if you're interested in an image of the mastiff, I posted the URL in my profile!**

 **Thank you everyone else for your kind words! Please review!**

* * *

"Speech"

' _thought'_

" **Jutsu: in use** **"**

' _ **Kyuubi/Summon thought'**_

" **Kyuubi/Summon speech"**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except this fanfiction story! all rights belong to their RIGHTFUL owner. cheers!**

* * *

 **Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself**

 **Chapter 3: Break It Down**

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Naruto jabbed his punches repeatedly trying to recreate the same image he had seen with the caterpillar man. Naruto had been at it for weeks but he wasn't improving nearly fast enough.

When Naruto had saw the man exert rapid kicks and punches against some training posts, the whiskered blond had stood watching in awe. The man's punches and kicks were so ferocious; air seemed to have coated his movement with friction due to the intense speed. As soon as the punch or kick extended as far as it would go, the air that coated his hand would then slam into whatever was in the direction of his kick or punch.

Apparently, the man in green was just going _that_ fast and strong…

It had been a whole day since the incident with the puppy and every day since then, Naruto had been working on his Taijutsu… Well, he was trying to, but he didn't know how to make himself as fast as the caterpillar man…

Quite frankly, it was pissing him off.

Naruto let out a frustrated growl, "How the hell does he do it?! Is he even _human_? Like how the hell does someone-"

"HELLO MY YOUTHFUL FRIEND!" Came a booming earnest voice.

Naruto paled, _'Shit.'_

Naruto turned and faced the eccentric man as he forced a tight smile on his face, "H-hello sir…"

The man let out a booming laugh, "HAHA! MY DEAR YOUTHFUL FRIEND, THERE IS NO NEED TO ADDRESS ME IN SUCH A MANNER! IT IS MOST CERTAINLY AN UNYOUTHFUL FEELING TO BE ADDRESSED AS SUCH! YOU CAN ADDRESS ME AS THE GREEN BEAST OF KONOHA! OR RATHER THAN THAT, YOU CAN CALL ME BY MY OTHER YOUTHFUL MONIKER. THAT TITLE IS NOTHING OTHER THAN KONOHA'S NOBLE BEAST! MAITO GAI THE MIGHTY GREEN KONOHA GENTLE BEAST AT YOUR SERVICE!"

Naruto sweat dropped, _'This guy is weird as hell… I better get the hell out of here.'_

"Uh… okay… erm Gai-san… I was just going to go and leave, so uh pardon me-"

Suddenly, the exuberant demeanor of Gai ceased to exist as a more ominous presence exuded from his person.

"Hmm… why must you go? You seemed keenly interested in my training… It is certainly most unyouthful for someone to watch someone with introducing themselves beforehand…"

Naruto gulped and paled once more, _'Shit! He knew! He's probably gonna kill me! I don't stand a chance against someone like him! What the hell should I do!? Should I try and run or should I just apologize and get my beating now…?'_ Deciding that running away might incite a more brutal beating; Naruto kneeled and bowed touching his forehead to the ground.

Visibly shaking, Naruto managed to crack out an apology in a broken voice, "I-Im S-s-sorry sir! I-i-i was just training when I s-stumbled upon you sir! P-please don't hurt m-me too m-much…"

Guy frowned, the voice was quiet and broken, _'Just what have they done to you Naruto-kun?_ ' He wished he could have been there for the boy but as one of Konoha's top jounin, Gai was forced to do many 'A' to 'S' ranked mission. Hence the reason he wasn't in Konoha majority of his time. O

Oh, he knew of the rotten behavior of the villagers and various shinobis but he never expected the usually cheerful boy to be this…

 _Broken_.

Gai could see the fear and shame in the boy's eyes. The sorrow and the suffering… Gai shook his head and took on his usual exuberant manner; it would do no good for him to reprimand the boy.

Naruto waited with his head bowed trembling with unbridled fear. So it came to him a great surprise when he heard an equally unrestrained laughter. Confusion on his face, Naruto looked up to see the bowl cut man had thrown his head back with his hands on his hips.

"NEVER FEAR THE POWER OF YOUTH MY DEAR BOY! STAND PROUD AND NEVER FALL SHORT OF YOURSELF! LET THE POWER OF YOUTH GUIDE YOU!"

Naruto was confused, just what the hell was this Guy (Pun intended) saying? Did he want him to stand up? Naruto slowly got up all the while watching the man rant on about the springtime of youth. Seeing that the man didn't seem to focused on him, Naruto slowly backed away before turning to leave.

As Naruto walked away, he let out a sigh of relief, that Gai was dangerously happy. In fact, if he hadn't gotten away in time, Naruto was sure he would have been involved in some bat-crazy shit with that-

A strong grip found itself on Naruto's shoulder; effectively stopping him from moving.

Yep. Kami sure must have hated him.

"And where are you going my friend?! WITH THE SPRING TIME OF YOUTH GUIDING US IN THE WILL OF FIRE, WE SHALL BE THE GREATEST NOBLE GENTLE BEASTS TO HAVE EVER LIVED!"

Yep. It was confirmed, Kami hated him alright.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Naruto fell face first into the grass and groaned as every muscle in his body screamed in protest to any movement. He had spent two weeks with Gai-sensei and found it to be the worst idea… _ever_.

Apparently, Gai-sensei knew all along that Naruto had been watching him train. So Naruto had asked why it took so long for him to actually confront him if the man knew he was there the whole time…

His answer was absolutely absurd.

"Youth?"

That was all he said.

Literally.

Youth.

With a big ass questioning tone ending the answer.

What kind of backwards ass answer was that? Whatever, Naruto knew he couldn't possibly understand anything about the strange man. The man was just too damn… _youthful_. That was the most… _appropriate_ way Naruto could put it.

Well, there were other words he could use to describe the man but it was borderline insulting if not insulting at all.

The conversation steered to Naruto and Gai actually introducing themselves to each other. That in turn, led the conversation about why Naruto was watching him. Hesitantly, Naruto told him he was trying to train himself by watching the jounin, because no one ever tried to help him.

Waterfalls gushed out of Gai's eyes as he embraced the jinchuuriki into an extremely bone crushing hug. Screaming things along the lines of how youthful this generation was and how everyone was unyouthful for neglecting the hidden gem that was Naruto.

Naruto felt touched even though he was running out of air. The pressure was immediately released and he was given some space as Gai kneeled and placed both his hands on the blonde's shoulder. Naruto hurriedly sucked replaced the oxygen that was sorely missing in his lungs.

"MY DEAR YOUTHFUL NARUTO-KUN! I WOULD BE HONORED TO HAVE YOU UNDER MY TUTELAGE! PLEASE ACCEPT MY YOUTHFUL PLEA!" Gai all but begged.

Bewildered, Naruto simple nodded and rushed out a care-free, "S-sure Gai-sensei! Just stop crying for please!"

Unbeknownst to Naruto, those words would forever indebt him into a cycle of torture for kami knows how long.

That very same day, Gai-sensei decided that the free time Naruto had for the rest of the month due to the Uchiha massacre incident should be taken advantage of.

Every single second of it.

So Gai had Naruto stretch out right then and there… right before forcing him into a brutal workout regimen. Pushups on top of pushups, sprints after sprints, sit-ups after sit-ups, it was a continuous cycle of plyometrics (Exercises that uses bodyweight as the primary conditioning factor).

That was his first day training with Gai-sensei and his body was absolutely destroyed. He could barely get home and once he did, he simply sat in the tub with the showerhead running. He was so god damned tired that he almost fell asleep in the bathtub.

A freaking _bathtub_.

Of course, the very next day, he found himself going back to that training ground like Gai-sensei had told him to. To his horror, he found that he would be put through the same damn torturous routine! Only with added repetition of all the exercises.

This repetitive yet grueling training routine continued for the rest of the first week. When Naruto had asked why all he was doing basic exercises. Gai just looked at him with a knowing look.

"Ah! My dear Naruto-kun! You must be patient! But I suppose I could tell you so your youth doesn't diminish! This week was dedicated to enhance your physical traits; especially your speed! We will continue this for the rest of this week before I teach you my own personal style!" Gai finished with a cheery smile and his patent nice-Gai pose.

Naruto ignored the hideous pose with stars in his eyes, **"** Your own personal style!? YATTA! I'M GONNA BE SUCH A BADASS DATTEBAYO!"

Gai chuckled before beaming with his ultra-white teeth, "INDEED NARUTO-KUN! WE WILL INDEED REACH THE PEAK OF YOUTH!"

Pumped up, Naruto cheered with his exuberant sensei, completely unaware of the torture- er, training he was in for.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

"Yo jiji!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled and looked up to the source of the voice.

"Ah… Hello Naruto-kun. How are you…?"

"I'm feelin pretty youthful, dattebayo!"

Instantly hearing the word "Youthful", the Sandaime stood in front of Naruto with a very serious look on his face. "HOW FAR DID YOU FALL NARUTO? HOW DEEP HAS HE ROOTED HIS INFLUENCE INTO YOU? I WILL NOT ALLOW FOR THIS TREACHERY TO STAND-"

"Nani! What the hell are you talking about jiji!"

"EMPTY YOUR BELONGINGS RIGHT NOW." The village leader screamed.

Needless to say, when the most powerful ninja in the entire village, and arguably the entire elemental nations screamed at you in a wild and crazed manner, you obey. Without missing a beat, Naruto threw out all his stuff, which wasn't a lot… just a bunch of random snacks and a green leotard suit that he had received from Gai-sensei several moments ago.

Immediately spotting the heinous clothing apparel, the man known as The Professor weaved through rapid hand signs before screaming, " **KATON: GOKAKYU NO JUTSU! (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!)** **."** A giant ball of flame crashed into the leotard, effectively obliterating it from existence.

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed as he plopped down into his seat, he wiped a sweat that had been rolling down his forehead, "Phew, crisis avoided, right Naruto-kun?"

Naruto stared blankly at the pile of ashes in front of him.

"Uh-huh… sure… if you say so jiji."

The Sandaime clasped his hands together with a serene smile on his face, "Now Naruto-kun, what did you come here for? Or is this just a surprise visit?"

Naruto sweat dropped at the fact that the village leader was pretending that the event of what just transpired didn't even happen.

Oh well.

"Actually jiji… I know this might sound a bit crazy," Naruto pursed his lips, " but erm… I was maybe wondering… i-if I could drop out of the academy…"

A mixture of surprise and horror fixed itself onto the old wizened man, "Naruto! I thought you wanted to become a ninja!" Sarutobi paled, there wasn't anything he could do to stop the young boy, but seeing as he was the Yondaime's heir, Sarutobi didn't think there were any other avenues for the Fourth's legacy.

"Oh no jiji!" Naruto hastily spoke, seeing the mini panic attack that the old man was having, "I still want to be a shinobi dattebayo! I was just wondering if I can get an apprenticeship… I _think_ I found a teacher and I recall reading apprenticeships takes you out the academy until the genin exam or something like that, right?"

Sarutobi nodded, "Indeed. If one were to find a Jounin or a Tokubetsu Jounin (Special jounin) that was willing to teach them, they could, with the hokage and council's approval, skip out on the rudimentary years of the academy… are you still with me?"

Naruto nodded excitedly, he had read something along those lines before he got kicked out of the library several days ago. Now if he could just get Gai-sensei to agree with being his mentor, he could finally get out of the damn academy.

"If you were to successfully find a jounin sensei, someone who I would evaluate and deem worthy, you would train with him or her after a few pieces of paper get approved and whatnot. You would then be taken out of the academy, as I told you, until either the last few weeks of the academy or the last year; whichever your mentor and I think would suit you better. No matter what tthough, you will be placed back into the academy for team placement and tests."

Naruto frowned, "Would I have to be on a team? Couldn't I just continue under the apprenticeship of the teacher?"

Sarutobi shook his head, "Unfortunately no, there are very few exceptions in that case but usually no. Konoha's shinobis should be building a sense of familiarity with each other hence the four-man cell that consists of three genins and one jounin. It is essential for a team to work together as a unit. In fact, you should try and build a sense of camaraderie amongst your classmates while you can, it may even save your life one day."

Naruto's frown became even more pronounced, "But jiji! How am I supposed to build a sense of camera- a sense of comma-camry- ugh what was that word jiji?"

Sarutobi chuckled, "Camaraderie is the word you're looking for; it means a bond that has been developed because you spend time with the person a lot."

"Oh." Naruto took a blank look, but then he took on an excited look, "So does that mean we have a Camara- caramel- care- GAH! The fancy bond word? Do we have one of those jiji?!"

The Sandaime Hokage laughed heartily, "We sure do Naruto-kun, one of the closest."

Naruto beamed before his face fell into a somewhat of a distraught state, "But jiji how am I supposed to build that bond with others if no one is willing to try. It takes two people trying to have any form of relationship…"

Sarutobi looked thoughtfully at the now ten year old boy; it surprised him that such a young child could voice that kind of a deep thought.

"You're right Naruto-kun, it seems in my old age that I tend to forget about a lot of things… I'm sorry."

Naruto waved him off, "It's okay jiji, cause we still have that bond and as long as you're there, I think I'll be okay."

A pang of sadness shot through the heart of the Sandaime, how could one boy who bears the weight of such a massive burden remain so vigilant? The Hidden Leaf's Hokage gave Naruto a fond smile, "Indeed Naruto. Now, who or what gave you the idea of taking on an apprenticeship?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Well… no one actually gave me the idea, but I've been training with Gai-sensei lately and he's such a great teacher and on top of that the academy… well… y'know, I don't really have a lot of friends there… and it feels like some people are out to get me."

Sarutobi Hiruzen face-palmed, of course it was Gai, that would explain the 'youthfulness' of Naruto's verbal use of the cursed word earlier. The Sandaime then narrowed his eyes as he registered the rest of the young jinchuuriki's words.

Sarutobi sighed, "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but Maito Gai is one of our top three jounins of Konoha and Konoha is in dire need of her strongest ninjas. And because-"

"What! TOP THREE? SUGOOOOI!" Naruto screamed excitedly.

The Hokage sent Naruto a look.

"Whoops, sorry jiji… i just got a bit excited… hehe…" Naruto apologized bashfully.

"It's fine, just make sure to let other people finish their speech…" Sarutobi coughed, "Ahem… back to what I was saying, because he is such a powerful shinobi, dangerous missions often dictates him to take it. Usually, he can back out of it, but… at the moment, we need every ninja we can get… I can try and talk to him and the council but there is no guarantee."

"YATTA! THANK YOU JIJI!"

"Naruto, I'm not promising anything." The Sandaime warned.

"I know… but you trying for me is more than enough for now." Naruto honestly replied.

The hokage rewarded him with a warm smile before playfully scowling.

"Alright, now scramble on Naruto, these paperwork aren't going to do themselves."

Naruto waved goodbye and eagerly ran to find out just where the caterpillar eyebrowed jounin was at.

The Sandaime then spoke to seemingly no one, "How much did you hear?"

An ANBU member suddenly materialized and replied lazily, "Enough for me to know he wants to get an apprenticeship with Gai."

The wizened old man chuckled, "Indeed… so how is that going by the way? May I remind you that this is your first report for the task I've given you."

The tall inu-masked jounin with a combination of white and silver hair yawned, "Hai hai hokage-sama… Regarding the A-Ranked mission of investigating what Naruto Uzumaki has been doing for the duration of the break from school… Do I have to do this?"

The Hokage simply glared in response.

Kakashi sweat dropped, "Alright alright, back to it… Um. Lets see, he's been learning some **Goken (Iron Fist)**. He has the basic beginner katas down already-"

The hokage looked surprised, "Wow… one month and he's already caught up? Most impressive…"

"Actually Hokage-sama, he's only been training with Gai for a few weeks now, and he's only started the **Goken** style several days ago…"

The Sandaime's eyes widened, "What! That's insane! You are telling me that it took him two to three days to learn the basics?"

Kaksashi nodded.

"For him to learn that in a few days would indicate he's a prodigy… Wait, that would actually make sense seeing as he learned the **Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone)** in a single hour… but the academy shows that he's the dead last… but judging from what Naruto said earlier about the people out to get him- unless… oh no…" The Sandaime murmured to himself softly, yet loud enough for Kakashi to hear.

Kakashi was a bit confused, how did the boy knew how to perform **Kage Bunshin No Jutsu** **(Shadow Clone Jutsu)**? That technique was an A-Ranked jutsu, how the hell did a ten year old boy learn that?

"Uh… Hokage-sama, did you figure out something regarding the academy? And may I inquire as to how the boy knows the **Kage Bunshin No Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)**?" Kakashi asked with a curious look.

The Sandaime rubbed his head in frustration as an upset visage was adopted upon his face, "At the moment, it is no more than a hunch… but it seems as if the boy's grade are based on a slightly skewed standard compared to the other students. This hunch will be investigated very thoroughly of course, but still… to think that the academy teachers were sabotaging a student… it is most disgraceful."

Kakashi nodded in agreement, he deduced the sabotaging of Naruto's education to the Kyuubi No Kitsune, it made sense, after all; many people were still wounded from the traumatic event a decade ago. To Kakashi, Naruto was his sensei's son, as soon as his ANBU services was over; he was going to see that the boy was taken care of one way or another.

It was the least he could do for his late sensei.

However, the Sandaime's response didn't answer the question of how Naruto learned an A-ranked Kinjutsu.

"And what about the kinjutsu hokage-sama? Who taught him to use such a dangerous Kinjutsu?" Kakashi inquired.

"No one." The Sandaime replied gravely, "No one would ever teach him anything Kakashi-kun. That is why he is so obsessed with Gai and becoming his apprentice, Gai isn't biased towards him at all and he is actually willing to help Naruto-kun."

Kakashi took on a perplexed expression, "So how did he learn it? If there was no one to teach him, how could he have learned it?! Unless he had a scroll and taught himself it… But even then, it's nearly impossible to learn that jutsu from a scroll with a teacher to aid you, much less teach yourself… so how did he-"

"That is exactly what he did Kakashi, he taught himself without a teacher… in a single hour."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, "Wait how?! How did he get his hands on the scroll… unless…" Kakashi's eyes widened as he realized how the boy got his hands on the scroll.

"The Mizuki incident."

The Sandaime nodded solemnly.

Kakashi slumped into a chair as he took off his mask.

"He's a genius." Kakashi whispered almost reverently.

"Indeed he is, but he may be more of a kinesthetic genius like his father. Nonetheless, he has an unknown amount of potential and that is why it is most troubling that the academy teachers were- and most likely still are -hindering him. For this reason, I'm sending you on a mission to figure out which teachers are sabotaging him… Do you accept Hatake Kakashi?"

Kakashi's eyes hardened, "Hai, Hokage-sama."

* * *

 **X**

* * *

The last week and a half went by fairly quickly, yet Naruto found himself unable to conjure the courage required to talk to the Taijutsu master about becoming his apprentice. Naruto didn't know why he was so scared; maybe it had something to do with asking for something from someone. He has never ever in his short entire life asked someone for something like this. Sure he asked for little things like questions, but that was shot down with the teachers screaming at him or throwing his stuff out the window. Well he suppose he asked for ramen every once in a while…

But that was neither here nor there.

Deep down inside, Naruto knew what he was scared of.

Rejection.

He was ashamed to admit it, but he didn't like rejection even though rejection played a big part of his whole life. He had promised himself and Iruka-sensei that he would become better… but that particular facet of his misfortunate life was always there, looming over him like a never ending storm.

Sure, every once in a while there was a ray of hope like Gai, Jiji, Iruka-sensei, Itachi and the Ichiraku family but good things never lasted; Iruka and Itachi were prime examples of that. It was just how _his_ life went. Regardless, even if Gai-sensei rejected him, it wouldn't be anything new to him. Still, Gai was quickly becoming one of his precious people.

But being rejected by his precious people is Naruto's ultimate fear. This thought was realized when Itachi had left him. In a way, Naruto had interpreted Itachi leaving Konoha was a way that nothing had tied him to the village; not even Naruto himself. The feeling of rejection from a person Naruto had held in such a close and high regard tore him apart.

Maybe his life wasn't meant to be enjoyed? Hokage-jiji told him that there was a balance in this world. Maybe his life was weighted in misery in sorrow so others could be better off…

Naruto chewed on his inner cheeks as he mulled over his somewhat gloomy thoughts.

He sucked in a deep breath and exhaled as he came to a decision, _'I have to do this today before it's too late. Otherwise I'll be stuck at the academy forever…'_

So with that thought in mind, Naruto set out to find his current Taijutsu teacher. Naruto looked all over the place but couldn't find him. Naruto frowned and tried thinking of where the man could possibly be… he decided he would recheck Gai-sensei's favorite training ground so he headed to team 9's training ground; something about this training ground is where he was taught to open gates from his father or something like that.

What the hell was that supposed to mean anyways?!

Everyone knew how to open a gate. You get a key and put in the hole, or you can pick it! Either way works, Naruto knew how to do both so opening gates wasn't all too impressive to him.

Sigh…

If only the boy knew.

He searched for hours, he made a bunch of **Kage Bunshins** and directed them everywhere. Through several trials, he learned that he would gain their memories and regain his chakra on top of that.

He briefly wondered, _'Hmm… I wonder if they could work with training? Nah… that'd be too overpowered…'_

Naruto sighed tiredly, he felt as if he checked every nook and cranny for the self-declared. He decided he would mentally disable his clones in a few minutes if he had no further luck. A few minutes had passed and gave a frustrated growl, he sent a mental signal to his clones to dispel themselves and instantaneously felt the effects.

He promptly blacked out.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Waking up with a searing migraine, Naruto groaned as he up righted himself with some difficulty. Eyes half-lidded, Naruto let out a prolonged "uuuuuuughhh…"

' _Note to self; do not dispel a hundred clones at once…'_ he dully noted to himself.

Naruto smacked his lips and tasted the vague hue of morning breath, _'Gross… smells and taste like rotten ramen…'_ He must've been sleeping for a short amount of time because the sun was still overhead shining brightly down on the training grounds he was currently occupying.

' _Well I guess I'll go home for now, Gai-sensei doesn't seem to be around Kono-"_

 _ **SNAP!**_

Naruto suddenly became alert as he heard the snapping of a twig. The sharp crack came from behind him as Naruto jumped to his feet and tensed. His eyes panned around the area in which he thought he had heard the disturbance from. As Naruto scanned the area before him, he tried smelling the air for a sign as to who or what was near him.

As he took a particular big whiff of air, he relaxed and let out a breath of relief before he called out, "Gai-sensei! I know it's you, you can come out dattebayo!"

A shiny-eyed Maito Gai suddenly appeared before Naruto, "AH NARUTO-KUN! AMAZING YOU WERE ABLE TO DETECT ME! YOUR YOUTHFUL SENSES ARE STILL TOP NOTCH I SEE!" Much to Gai's surprise, the young jinchuuriki didn't respond… in fact, he looked a bit nervous rather than his usual response of being annoyed or happy with his youthful speech.

Gai, with a serious visage, kneeled before the boy and asked the young whiskered blonde before him with slight worry, "Naruto-kun, I sense that there is something troubling you!"

Naruto gave a nervous chuckle, "Eh heh… uh… well you see Gai-sensei… I was talking to the hokage jiji about apprenticeships and I was, uh, wondering I-if… erm… you-"

Gai, immediately seeing where Naruto was going with this, interrupted.

"Naruto, as much as I'd love to mentor you, I don't think I'll be able to… Konoha is in a dire need of their jounin at the moment. As soon as school starts back up for you, I'll be taking a lot more 'A' and 'S' ranked missions." Gai explained.

"Oh." A crestfallen Naruto responded. "Okay… well thanks anyways Gai-sensei, I still appreciate with what you've taught me so far-"

"AND WHO SAID OUR YOUTHFUL TRAINING WAS OVER?! YOU MUST REMAIN YOUTHFUL MY DEAR NARUTO!" Gai cried out.

Naruto looked confused, "But didn't you just say you can't train me anymore?!"

Gai jumped into the air and did multiple flips before landing in his nice Gai pose, teeth shining, he responded with enthusiasm, "MY DEAR NARUTO-KUN! I SIMPLY SAID I WOULD BE TAKING MORE MISSIONS! HOWEVER, THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH WAITS FOR NOONE! FROM HERE ON OUT, WEEKENDS AND BREAKS SHALL BE DEDICATED TO TAIJUTSU AND YOUTH TRAINING!"

Naruto beamed as the man continued to rant about youth, some training was better than nothing. The fact that Gai would make time for the class dobe and the village pariah spoke volume to the young jinchuuriki.

So happy in his thoughts, the young blonde ran and tackled the leg of one surprised Maito Gai. Said man looked down in surprise, this was the first show of physical affection that Naruto had shown for him. Gai smiled and reached down to pat the young boy's head, but just as quick as the young boy had hugged him, the jinchuuriki jumped back with morbid horror on his face.

The jinchuuriki felt an intense terror wrench at his stomach, he had accidently hugged the man out of the immense gratitude he was feeling. Although he had taken to training with the man, in all the few weeks, he never showed any sort of affection a normal ten year old would attach to an older somewhat fatherly figure.

Naruto breath became frantic as he felt a slight shiver of anxiety take place in his heart; there was no doubt Gai-sensei would feel disgusted at the fact that that the village pariah had touched him. The azure-eyed boy averted his gaze downward and quickly apologized, "I'm sorry Gai-sensei, I didn't mean to touch you! I was just so happy that someone wanted to spend more time with me and I forgot that no one likes me even looking at them, much less-"

Again, Gai understood the implications the boy was making before he finished his statement. The green-cladded jounin then scooped up the boy in a tight hug and had a ridiculous amount of tears torrenting down his cheeks, "OH NARUTO-KUN, YOU MUST NEVER BE AFRAID TO SHOW THE PASSION OF YOUTH! DON'T YOUR WORRY ABOUT NOTHING MY CUTE LITTLE STUDENT! YOUR YOUTH WILL NEVER BE HELD BACK AS LONG AS I, KONOHA'S NOBLE AND GENTLE BEAST, RESIDE HERE IN KONOHA!" Gai then went into another speech about super youth as Naruto lost conscious from the lack of air.

Still, Naruto smiled as he fell into bliss, he had heard enough of Gai's youthful speech to know he didn't do anything wrong.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

The rest of the break from school went without much incident.

Brutally train.

Eat.

Train some more.

Sleep.

Repeat.

That was the cycle that Gai had thrown Naruto in. During that time, Naruto had managed to get the intermediate katas down for the **Goken** style. Naruto begged Gai to start teaching him the advanced katas but apparently the blonde wasn't physically able enough.

Guess he had to be taller, quicker, stronger, and most importantly, needed to be _faster_.

Basically, he had to become un-Naruto like as possible.

Which, by the way, was total bullshit to him.

When Naruto heard the prerequisite to learn the advanced katas, he became a bit confused, "Gai-sensei, I thought being faster and quicker were the same thing."

Gai nodded sagely, "Actually, that seems like a common misconception amongst the general consensus. Being fast means you are capable at moving at a high speed. Quickness is how fast you can accelerate…"

"Oh, I see." And truth to be told, Naruto actually did understand. It made sense to him.

Gai furrowed his massively thick brows in confusion and slight astonishment, "You do?" He had thought the boy would've needed more explaining.

Naruto scowled and nodded, "I'm not a baka y'know!"

Gai gave a hearty laugh and patted the boy, "Regardless my youthful student, your quickness is surprisingly- I'd peg you at about a high-chunin level."

Naruto pouted, "What! Is that it?! Man I thought I'd at least be a jounin!"

Gai simply shook his head, "I am sure you'll get there one day my youthful student! After all, it's not every day a ten year old can say they possess skills of a chunin!" To this, Naruto pouted before looking up with determined eyes. He then went on a verbal splurge of how he was gonna be the best.

Gai simply looked at the boy with disguised observance, _'If I were honest Naruto-kun, you'd be mid-jounin level but we don't want your youthfulness to overflow...'_

Obviously that's an analogy for his ego.

Gai smacked the boy in the back, "Also! I got a gift for you!"

Naruto halted mid rant and looked at his Taijutsu sensei, "ARE YOU SERIOUS SENSEI! THAT'S FREAKING AWESOM-Wait! Gai-sensei, how am I supposed to get taller? Isn't it all genes or whatever?"

Gai's visage turned from slightly speculative to morbidly serious, "Naruto, listen to me. I NEED you to listen and comprehend; this may be the most life-altering lesson you will have ever heard."

Naruto gulped.

"In order to get taller…" Gai started.

Naruto nodded furiously with rapt attention.

"YOU MUST STOP EATING RAMEN!"

…

Wait for it…

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

 **X**

* * *

A sullen Naruto walked in into the academy. Gai had taken the entire weekend to revamp Naruto's lifestyle. The Mighty Taijutsu specialist had dragged Naruto back to the young jinchuuriki's apartment screaming how unyouthful Naruto's diet had been.

Naruto had begged his Taijutsu sensei to not do what he thought the eccentric man was about to do.

Unfortunately, he did just that.

In a fit of green blur, the man had cleaned out Naruto's apartment in mere seconds...

He had found everything.

And Naruto meant everything.

Nothing related to ramen was spared.

He even found the secret stash of the limited edition underneath the floorboard and as soon as he finished, Gai quickly shouted a heartfelt 'YOUTH' before running to the grocery store and returning with vegetables.

 _A lot_ of vegetables.

Apparently, Gai had somehow managed to obtain several cookbooks from wherever-the-hell while he went to the store. He came back in a rush and dumped them unceremoniously on the kitchen table before walking over to Naruto.

"YOSH! MY DEAR YOUTHFUL STUDENT, YOU MUST STUDY THESE COOKBOOKS AND FIX YOUR UNYOUTHFUL LIFESTYLE OR WE SHALL RUN TO AROUND KONOHA FIFTY TIMES ON NAUGHT BUT OUR PINKY FINGERS!"

Naruto paled; he knew full well that Gai was being completely serious about that.

So for the remainder of his break, Naruto was constantly reading on how to cook healthier and more nutritious food while being guided under Gai's tutelage for his Taijutsu.

So here he was, reading a freaking cookbook in class. Naruto sighed as the first telltale sign of the academy students entering filtered through his ears; he was probably going to get shit for reading a cookbook in class.

Whatever, if he wanted to get any better, then people's opinion of him shouldn't matter to him.

Well, that's what he wanted to think… but alas, he was still a ten year old. Although to his credit, he managed to ignore all the questioning whispers about the 'dobe' having a cookbook and the feeble attempts of his classmates trying to goad a reaction out of him.

"Why does the dobe have a recipe book?"

"Probably for a prank."

"Look he has a book on nutrition too!"

"It's probably just has that as a title, it's probably porn though…"

Naruto's eye twitched but he reeled his irritation in and read on.

A particular civilian classmate's annoying whisper reverberated through the classroom, "O-M-G, WHAT IF HE'S DIETING?! HE'S PROBABLY FAT UNDERNEATH THAT BAGGY JUMPSUIT HE HAS!"

Naruto mentally cringed at her voice and inwardly sighed, that was by far one of the stupidest thing he had ever heard.

Suddenly everyone laughed as another random student responded to her not-too-subtle whisper, "THE DOBE IS A SHRIMP! HE'S THE SHORTEST AND THE WEAKEST IN THE CLASS!"

Naruto fought the desperate urge to scowl and challenge them to show how 'scrawny' he was; Being shorter than everyone else was a sore spot for him because he wasn't just shorter than all the guys… he was shorter than all the girls too.

Even the timid _Hinata._

However, instead of beating that particular owner of the last insult, Naruto gritted his teeth and continued on reading instead of reacting crassly; If he did, that would of meant that they had successfully got him to react to their stupid insults.

So he kept calm and maintained his slightly irritated but mostly calm composure.

However, there was one thing he couldn't ignore. The sound of a group of fangirls squealing and stampeding in the hallway to walk next to a certain object of their affection announced the arrival of a certain Uchiha.

Naruto turned his attention back to his book, _'great…'_

Sasuke Uchiha walked into class with a glare that radiated hatred. Needless to say, the massacre of his clan didn't bode well with him. When his eyes briefly scanned the room and fell upon a certain Uzumaki, whom was propped on a hand supported by his elbow, looking down at a book without a care in the world, Sasuke saw red and marched over towards the class 'dobe' with his fangirls right behind him.

Sasuke didn't know why he felt such anger towards the blonde whiskered boy, but he didn't care. It probably had something to do with the fact that Naruto was the only thing that Sasuke could tie to the memories of his brother. Sasuke knew it wasn't justifiable reason- it wasn't even a rational one, regardless he just simply did not care.

Sasuke stood in front of Naruto in a position that demanded attention. He had his arms crossed on his chest and stared at the boy with a raging stare. Students had mostly filled the class by and had noticed the dark atmosphere. When they pinpointed the source of it, they sucked in a huge breath of anticipation.

At the sound of the collective intake of breaths, Naruto looked up, finally bringing his attention out of the book and to his surroundings. He looked to his right and found a brooding Uchiha shooting daggers via eyes at him. Naruto stared at the boy not one foot away from him for several moments.

Naruto blinked.

Then he shrugged and returned his attention back to his book.

Sasuke growled; no one should be ignoring him! He just had his clan massacred. Granted, he didn't see the horrors because before he could even step inside the clan compound, his brother appeared before him and knocked him out cold with a simple neck chop.

Regardless, having to wake up to your clan being killed was a very tragic event to wake up to. When he woke up, he decided that he would kill his brother. But first, he needed to get stronger and he was gonna do just that

And he was gonna have everyone witness it.

But for everyone to witness it, he needed their attention.

At _all_ times…

Even the dobe's.

Naruto, noticing that Sasuke seemed a bit irritated, decided to move to the corner of the room; It was weirding him out that Sasuke was all up in his business. The emo survivor of the Uchiha clan was way too damn close for comfort.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno along with the rest of the class stood in front of the room staring at the very… _odd_ scene before them. Even the Uchiha Fangirl club had stopped following the brooding Uchiha and went to the front of the room to witness what was going on along with their classmates. Currently, Naruto was moving about the room and taking seats in different spots.

Normally, they would have chalked this off to Naruto just being Naruto… but the odd thing was wherever the blonde boy moved, a very baleful Sasuke Uchiha would follow at an eerily close distance. When Naruto sat down, Sasuke would be right there, like a second shadow.

No one really knew what to do.

Naruto sighed for what seemed like the tenth time since class started. The Uchiha survivor was seriously starting to piss him off. Naruto was seriously debating if it was worth using Gai's gift; he was really that mad.

But just as he decided to do something, A disheveled Inuzuka heir pushed his way between the crowd panting. Kiba Inuzuka looked like he hasn't slept in a week. And truth to be told, he hasn't.

The source of his disgruntled ire was currently tucked into his armpit. It was taking all of the Inuzuka's patience not to obliterate the damn thing. Kiba ran through everyone like a bull and saw Naruto sitting in the corner with the last Uchiha glaring at the blonde.

Kiba didn't care. He needed this problem taken care of ASAP. So he marched on over, shoved the survivor of the massacre away, and proceeded to thrust a 'ball' into the arms of Naruto.

"IT'S YOUR PROBLEM NOW!" The sleep-deprived Inuzuka shouted before sitting down next to the young blonde. Akamaru was perched on top of Kiba's head looking as tired as his owner.

Naruto looked at the downed Uchiha before putting his attention on the 'ball' that was shoved into his hands. Noticing the texture of said 'ball', Naruto frowned, since when were 'balls' furry?

Suddenly, the 'ball' unfurled and two brown eyes peered back at him. The ball then protruded a wagging tail.

And it barked.

Naruto blinked furiously.

"KIBA! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?"

* * *

 **X**

* * *

 **A/N: Cheers! Another chapter finally done. Finals are kicking my ass, hence the reason for such a slow upload. I apologize to my followers and readers!**

 **As of now, It looks as if the harem is leading the votes.**

 **IMPORTANT! IMPORTANT! IMPORTANT!**

 **POLL ON MY PAGE TO HELP DETERMINE THE TEAM SELECTION!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello readers! This is the last chapter to get your votes in everyone! If you don't know what I'm talking about, I have a poll on my profile that is determining how Naruto will be trained and whether or not he'll be trained solo or with a team! There's not a lot of variety but I didn't wanna mess with it too much!**

 **I've had over sixty people vote! I appreciate it!**

 **By the way! In case you didn't check the A/N at chapter one (I re-edited it ish.), Kurenai and Anko are currently 18 years old! It's moderately younger than canon but it's my fanfic so! By the time Naruto is 13, they'll be 21!**

 **But don't worry, plots and twists ahead!**

 **Word Count: 8k**

 **To the Reviewers:**

 **Aramus13: I know right? The Tibetan Mastiff is more like a lion than a dog… Crazy right?!**

 **Umi No Suiro: Ah, sorry. That was my mistake, I meant the regular one. Thank you for pointing it out!**

 **Bigfan22: Hm… the idea you're promoting intrigues me. I would like to incorporate your idea into the story but I'll have some research to do.**

 **I apologize for all grammatical and spelling errors! I tried to get most of em out the way!**

* * *

"Speech"

' _thought'_

" **Jutsu: in use** **"**

' _ **Kyuubi/Summon thought'**_

" **Kyuubi/Summon speech"**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: Guess what! i Still don't own Naruto! Or the cover image for that matter!**

* * *

 **Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself**

 **Chapter 4: Bark Bark!**

* * *

 **X**

* * *

"KIBA! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!"

Said Inuzuka boy looked up with tired eyes, "What the hell do you think it is dobe? It's a dog ya dumbass."

Naruto gnashed his teeth in annoyance, "I know _that_! What I meant was, WHY THE HELL IS IT IN MY ARMS!?"

"Cause it's yours now." Came a reply that sounded awfully like a yawn.

"The hell it is!"

"Well it is… soooo…"

"Why can't you take care of it?!" Naruto yelled.

"That my friend, is because that puppy is an absolute bitch (pun intended) And because of it being mixed with two dominant and alpha mammals, I can't take care of it. That's what my mom told my anyways… So I'm giving it to you."

"THAT TOLD ME NOTHING OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT YOU'RE TOO MUCH OF A PANSY TO TAKE CARE OF IT!"

Kiba's reply was to simply give a loud snore; signifying he was in a deep slumber.

Naruto gave a frustrated growl and returned his attention to the puppy. Naruto carefully placed the puppy on the desk and lowered his head so his face was level with the young canine. The puppy jumped forward and gnawed on the blonde's goggle. Disgusted, Naruto took off his saliva wrapped goggles and placed it on the desk so the puppy could continue chewing it. However, he couldn't help the small smile from stretching on his face.

The girls of the class walked forward with a blush on their face… _'Naruto really looks… different with his bangs down…'_

No one wanted to admit how cute the young blonde looked without his stupid giant goggles attached to his forehead.

Especially Ino and Sakura.

Naruto paid the gathering crowd of girls around him no attention. The puppy was now sitting and waiting expectantly at the boy with his tail wagging happily. The pup tilted his head at Naruto.

Naruto mirrored the pup's action and also tilted his head the same way the young canine tilted his head in.

"KAAWAAAAIII!" the girls all squealed. They couldn't decide which was more cuter, the boy or the puppy.

"Eh?" The loud noise brought Naruto's attention to all the girls surrounding him and when the crowd of females noticed Naruto looking at them weirdly, they all blushed and retreated back to the front of the class.

Shrugging at their weird antics, Naruto returned his attention to the puppy. Making a decision, Naruto scooped up the puppy and walked to the front of the class. All the girls waited with baited breath and watched the boy approach. However, they all looked disappointed as Naruto walked past them and towards the door.

Sasuke shook with rage, Not only did the class dobe ignore him, but the blonde had somehow managed to rip the attention from everyone that he, a noble Uchiha, had deserved!

"DOBE! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GOING!?" Sasuke shouted with rage.

"SUCK MY ASS!" Came the reply of the jinchuuriki.

All the boys chuckled while the girls didn't know whether or not to laugh or glare after the recently discovered cute blonde.

While everyone was distracted, Ino walked to where Naruto was sitting before he left. She quickly looked around before grabbing the goggles Naruto left behind.

' _I-I'm only taking it because the dog was so cute…'_

At least, that's what Ino told herself as she stowed it in Kami knows where. Satisfied that no one had seen her, Ino went to sit down in a seat that was surprisingly not near her 'Sasuke-kun'.

Sakura frowned, _'Why did Ino-pig take Naruto's goggles…?'_

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Channeling chakra throughout his whole body, Naruto murmured a soft, " **Henge!** " A plume of smoke encased his body and instead of a orange-clad ninja and black puppy, A wild looking boy with red facial tattoos that identified him as an Inuzuka took place. The black puppy turned into that of a white one.

'Kiba Inuzuka' and 'Akamaru' Now stood in place of Naruto and his black pup.

'Kiba' grinned and petted 'Akamaru'. The disguised couple of pup and kid then headed towards Kiba- err… 'their' home.

'Kiba' reached the Inuzuka compound without trouble and nodded to the guards calmly. On the inside, however, 'Kiba' was nervous as hell, he had never done anything as risk as this.

He sighed with relief as the guards simply nodded back. Once reaching what seemed be the main house, 'Kiba' stepped in and took off his sandals. Once done with that, he called out, "Mom! I'm home!"

Tsume Inuzuka looked naturally feral. She had spiky, untamed brown hair, vertical slit-like pupils, elongated canine teeth and nails. To be honest, when Naruto had first seen her drop off Kiba, he had thought she had looked like a grown up version of Kiba with womanly curves.

A very disturbing notion indeed.

"Who the hell are you!?" came a very gruff female voice.

'Kiba' smiled nervously, "Whatddaya mean mom! It's me- OW, ITAI!'

Tsume Inuzuka punched her 'son' right in the forehead, successfully dispelling the **Henge**. In place of where her 'son' was standing, was an orange-clad boy on his rear nursing the firnubg lump on his forehead.

Immediately recognizing the boy as the jinchuuriki, she relaxed, "Come on in pup, and take a seat in this room." She gestured to a large living room right at the entrance.

Naruto nodded fearfully, _'How did she see through my_ _ **Henge**_ _? Even jiji himself can't see through it unless I messed up somethin' in my speech-'_

"Well, you just gonna sit there or are you gonna come in?" Tsume quipped with an eyebrow raised.

Naruto stood up abruptly with an "Eep!" and bowed quickly before scurrying past her. Tsume shook her head with amusement, the boy could be quite endearing.

Naruto took in his surroundings with an impressed look; the living room was pretty big. The floor was made out of wood and it supported several large sofas in a 'U' shaped pattern. In the middle was a very long table that was the perfect height for someone to rest their legs on.

Naruto smirked; he didn't really think Tsume would allow anyone to rest their legs on the table. Actually, he didn't really think anyone was stupid enough to do so. So he sat on his knees in a respectful position while waiting for Tsume.

Tsume amused expression became even more so when she saw how respectful the brat was being in her living room. As she walked by him, she picked him up by the collar of his jacket and threw him unceremoniously on the couch eliciting a surprised yelp from him.

"Alright spill it pup, what da ya want?" came the rather crass manner of speech.

Naruto sat up and gulped, "Uh… W-well, first, can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"How'd you see through my **Henge**? Hokage-jiji told me it was pretty flawless."

"Truth to be told, I didn't even see anything; your **Henge** _was_ damn near flawless. The only thing you had forgotten was how tired my baby boy was. Kiba hadn't slept well in a whole week cause of some rescue pup." Tsume chuckled.

Naruto face palmed, of course! How could he forget how tired the mutt was?! He sighed, "Well Tsume-sama, I came here- itai!"

"Tsume- _san_. I don't want that political shit here, ya hear?! Besides... it makes me feel old!" Tsume practically barked as she bopped him on the head.

Naruto sweat dropped, "Hai! Errm, Tsume- _san_ , Kiba dropped me off a puppy today and I was just looking to return it."

Tsume looked surprised, "Why don't ya keep it? We have too much of a litter upkeep compared to the number of shinobis in our clan."

Naruto grinned nervously and scratched the back of head, "uh… I just can't?"

Tsume frowned, "And why is that? Do you perhaps… not like _dogs_?" she growled threateningly.

Naruto shook his head frantically, "No! No! I always wanted a dog and stuff but I don't know how to take care of a dog…" he continued softly while looking down, "plus… I don't think the villagers would like me being happy and they would kill- take him away…"

Tsume's heart shattered, the boy was in all honesty was just looking out for the puppy. Automatically, Naruto had earned respect from her just from that statement alone. She sighed, she truly wanted the boy to enjoy the experience of finding companionship and camaraderie in a dog but the young blonde was right; the villagers _would_ most likely kill the puppy for circumstances that was out of the boy's control.

The villagers were truly despicable.

She sighed, "Alright Naruto, let me see the puppy."

Naruto looked up and beamed, "Thank you Tsume-san!"

Naruto brought out a sleeping canine out of his jacket and carefully placed him on the table.

Tsume's eyes widened when she recognized the puppy, "THIS IS THE PUP THAT KIBA WAS TALKING ABOUT?!" Tsume shot a glare at Naruto, "IT WAS YOU WHO RESCUED THIS PUP?!"

Tsume's face contorted into a furious expression, "WHAT IN KAMI- HE GAVE THIS PUP TO YOU?! WHAT THE HELL WAS HE THINKING?!"

"H-H-Hai?" Naruto replied nervously.

The loud yelling stirred the pup from its sleep and as it took in its surrounding, when it recognized the scary looking lady when it had first been brought here by the look-alike boy, it growled.

Tsume groaned with frustration, "No wonder you wanna give it back, the dog is freaking _impossible_. It respects no one, it doesn't let anyone feed it, you have to throw food at it from thirty feet away, it pisses everywhere, it shits everywhere and on top of that, it has some big chakra coils; making it the perfect for a companion- but noooo, all that potential gone to waste-"

Naruto frowned not really understanding where she was going with her rant, "Tsume-san, why are you saying that about him? The puppy is actually really nice."

"Excuse me?!" Tsume asked incredulously, "No offense pup, but this canine is a Tsang-Khyi Tibetan Mastiff mixed with Gray Wolf. Those two breeds by themselves are super difficult to domesticate. So for you to say it's nice-"

"I'm serious!" Naruto cried out.

Tsume shook her head in a chiding fashion, "Listen pup, don't you think I would know more about this pup, I've spent a week with it and trust me when I say it lets no one near it, and I mean _no one_. Even me; the head of a ninken-partnered clan."

Naruto crossed his arms on his chest defiantly, "Well it played with me when Kiba gave it to me!"

The head of the Inuzuka clan chuckled, "yeah, and my family love cats." She snided in mirth-filled sarcasm. "Listen pup, go ahead and go home, we'll… _take care_ of this problem." She jabbed a finger towards the puppy who bared his teeth towards her.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean you guys will _take care_ of it?" he asked suspiciously.

"Oh, we'll put it in the pound for several months and if no one wants it, we'll probably give it to a civilian family and if that don't work then...we're most likely gonna have to let it go."

' _And by that, I mean we're gonna have to kill it,'_ Tsume grimaced, _'If it manages to grow up, it'll be too dangerous for it to live, especially without training…'_ She hated this part of her duties, but it just had to be done. Tsang-Khyi Tibetan Mastiffs were incredibly rare in the Elemental Nations. As far as she was aware, only one merchant sold them here and he only came once every decade from the very far east; somewhere where that no shinobi has ever been.

The fact that the pup was bred from a Gray Wolf added all the more danger to it. How the jinchuuriki even found the puppy in Konoha was beyond a mystery to her.

Naruto frowned, the puppy would probably die if was to be let back out. He really wanted to take care of it, but he just didn't know how. He was at a crossroads with himself; an impasse. Naruto growled in frustration before his eyes lit up with an idea.

"Tsume-san, what if I show you that it's nice?!"

Tsume gave a sad smile; the boy was earnestly trying his hardest to save the pup from suffering. It was very much endearing to her. She sighed, "Naruto, the only way that this pup would not chew anyone off is if they bonded to it. Sadly, it is only the Inuzuka clan that can bond with the more dominant species of canines."

Naruto ignored her and made way to pick the black Tibetan Mastiff up. Tsume, alarmed that the boy would do such a reckless thing, lashed out and grabbed the wrist of the jinchuuriki.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

Naruto rolled his eyes before attempting to shrug her hand off… only to find that the iron vice grip would not budge a single bit.

"Okay okay! I was just kidding Tsume-san! Can you please let go of me now?" Naruto pouted

Tsume relaxed and sighed visibly. She retracted her hands, "Phew, thank god. Kiba tried bonding with it that way and he got wrecked- OI!"

As soon as Tsume retracted her hands, Naruto closed the rest of the distance between him and the dog and scooped him up much to Tsume's horrification.

"Put him down this instance before he-" Tsume's stern pitch changed into that of a surprised one, "-before he _licks_ you?!" Naruto giggled uncontrollably as the puppy ravished his face with licks.

A smile slowly drew itself on Tsume's face as she quickly retrieved a camera and-

 _ **CLICK!**_

Naruto and the puppy halted their actions with wide eyes. They slowly turned their head towards the source of the noise and-

 _ **CLICK!**_

"OI! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Naruto shouted while the puppy barked in agreement.

 _ **CLICK!**_

Tsume laughed as she held up a blue cube-like structure, "Haha! This is a polaroid camera! New technology from Sora no Kuni (Land of the Sky), apparently, it prints out a photo instantly! This is my first time using it so I don't really know- oh! There's a printer right here!" She waited excitedly as three strips of photos slipped out of the printer folds.

Naruto stared for a few brief moments before shrugging and returning his attention to proving the dog wasn't a rabid killer.

Tsume kept a cautious eye on the pup and the blonde; she just didn't simply believe that the rebellious dog she had rescued weeks ago was so… _tamed_. Yet, here they were with the alpha-bred pup was licking the blonde's face. There was _one_ plausible answer even though it wasn't likely; especially since the blonde wasn't in any relation to a ninken-partnered clan.

"Say gaki," Tsume started off casually as Naruto looked at her, "What happened when you first met the puppy?"

"Oh! Uh… Hmm… where to begin… Well I was walking somewhere and I heard something…" Naruto then recounted his tale of saving the pup from three bigger dogs and how he waited for the better part of the day to feed the puppy before it passed out. He then explained that he went to Kiba because the villagers weren't really the best option for him.

At this, Tsume's eyes softened; she knew exactly why the villagers weren't exactly the… _best_ option… and truth to be told, she couldn't really blame them. People in general were just simple minded, everyone used the poor jinchuuriki as an outlet for all their anger, pain, suffering, and sorrows for their losses. She didn't condone their actions but she understood why they did what they did and why they acted like they did. She didn't like it, but she understood well enough.

Hopefully, when young Naruto is revealed to the truth, he'll be accepting of this as well.

But if he wasn't accepting and decided to kill all the wrongdoers in his life and rampage in anger… well… he had every right to be. She knew of what had transpired the night of the Uchiha Massacre with the Uchiha, and quite frankly, it was one of the most horrifying things she and the shinobi council had even _think_ of. Imagining that happening to Kiba made her shudder with fear and despair. To think that the blonde could still act this normal astounded her.

All shinobis ranked jounin and higher were told of what had happened to Konoha's jinchuuriki and most grimaced at the gruesome events retold. There were a few however, that took on a joyous expression at the gored expense of the child.

She gritted her teeth as she recalled how pleased the civilian council and select few shinobis seemed when the Sandaime recalled the brutal event in the counseling chambers. _'Those bastards need to get a reality check! I swear the next time I see Hokage-sama I'm going to give him a piece of-"_

"Can I see those?" Naruto asked, effectively cutting off her train of thoughts.

Tsume was about to ask what he wanted to see when she saw him point towards the photos she had taken of him and the pup.

Tsume chuckled as she looked briefly the pictures that depicted happiness, shock, and mock anger. She handed them over, "You can keep those pup, and I think you should know something… the moment you saved the dog it bonded with you. Your actions must have struck a chord or something with the puppy because you helped her that day."

Naruto nodded in an understanding fashion, "Wow. So does that mean that the puppy is a ninken I can- WAIT! IT'S A _HER_?!"

Tsume smirked haughtily, "Of course it is! The female is of course the superior gender!"

Naruto nodded sagely; that made plenty of sense, Sakura and Ino were pretty damn bossy and no one dared to go against their wishes.

"Uhh… so… what does that mean? I still don't know how to take care of it and even if I did, the villagers would still probably try and take her away from me." Naruto scowled, "And I definitely don't want that to happen."

"First off, you need to name the dog; I'm tired of you referring to her as an 'it' and 'her.' Dogs should never be treated as an inferior being, they aren't beneath us; they are our equals. Understood?" she glared.

Naruto nodded without hesitation; he didn't believe any being was lesser than another. He certainly wasn't gonna treat this dog like that. Naruto stroked his chin and looked up. Tsume chuckled at the pose the boy struck, it was amusing to see a pondering expression on a ten year old boy who seemed to be thinking too hard for his own good.

"Hmm… Lets see…" Naruto murmured, "a name huh… what should I call you?" he turned his attention to the female pup whom was happily wagging her tail at him.

"How about I read you some female names gaki and you can go from there?" Tsume offered.

Naruto shot her a grateful look and nodded, "Yes please!"

Tsume immediately started firing off suggestions, "Alright! There's Miho, Tomoe, Aika, Aimi, Kohaku, Mari, Masa, Rei, Reiko, Setsuko, Takara, Yuriko…" She looked at Naruto to see if he had liked any of them.

Naruto chewed on his lip and contemplated each name before shaking his head, "I don't know… none of the names I like. Are there any more names you can suggest?"

"Shiori, Rin, Maiko, Kou, Kazumi, Kimiko, kimi-"

"What do those two mean? 'Kimiko' and 'kimi' I mean." Naruto asked curiously,

"Kimiko means empress child and Kimi means noble… ya like em? "

Naruto scrunched his face in a thinking manner, "Hmm… do we have to do this today?! I just don't know…"

Tsume sighed, "Although it's better to engrave the name into the pup's head early in its life, I suppose it's not absolutely necessary… But by the end of this week you'll be deciding on one. Understood?"

Naruto nodded, "Yes ma'am!"

"Good. Now wait here, I'm gonna go get some books for you to study up on."

Naruto groaned and received a love tap on the head.

And by love tap, I mean punched.

Naruto got punched.

Naruto looked up at Tsume with a pout, "Tsume-san! Why'd ya do that!"

Tsume felt a tic growing, "Cause gaki! Whether you like it or not, this dog has _bonded_ with you. You absolutely _need_ to learn how to take care of it. Now stay put or I'll neuter you."

Without waiting for an answer, Tsume walked off to wherever in the compound to retrieve her books. When she returned, she found Naruto lying on his back and playing with the pup. Tsume smiled as Naruto made engine-like noises and maneuvered the female puppy in the air. The puppy seemed to be enjoying itself if the wagging tail and tongue lolling out was any indications to go by.

"Alright pup, take these books and study up. Leave her– the pup – here until the end of the week. She still needs proper shots for various things so I'll take care of that. Make sure you have a name when you come back, alright?"

Naruto nodded, not realizing the full implications of the conversation. He furrowed his brows as the information sorted itself out in his head, suddenly, he yelled, "WAIT! SO! I'M GONNA BE THE ONE TAKING CARE OF IT?!"

Tsume sighed, "Why else would I be giving you information on how to take care of a ninken? On top of that, you are going to be returning here to name the dog. Why would I have you return _and_ name the dog?"

Tsume looked at Naruto and her eyes softened; the boy seemed torn apart at the revelation that pup was now his. She could tell he was struggling with his wants of receiving a companion and his moral obligation to see the pup being protected.

"Listen pup, how about this, I'll babysit the pup until it can fend for itself. I don't want any canine to ever be mistreated. HOWEVER! THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN PERMANETLY LEAVE HIM HERE, UNDERSTOOD?!"

Naruto ignored her screaming and nodded fervently. He was both grateful and a bit irritated. Grateful because he was given an opportunity to receive a companion for life yet slightly irritated that the puppy wasn't going to be with him 24/7.

But he supposed that was a fair trade.

"Arigatou gozaimous Tsume-san!" Naruto bowed.

Tsume found herself chuckling once more, "Make sure that I don't regret this!"

Naruto's eyes gleamed, "Oh you won't dattebayo!"

"Good. Now scram!"

Naruto squeaked out an incoherent sound as he hastily scurried out.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Naruto poured all his attention to the study materials he received from Gai-sensei and the Inuzuka clan head. At one point, Gai-sensei had stopped by to check up on his student and endeavors for his _youthful_ endeavors.

Naruto ignored Gai as the man rummaged through his friends screaming how youthful his stocked items were. As soon as the rant of how amazingly healthy and youthful the innards of his fridge was, he came over with a giant frown.

"Naruto-kun! I do not recall me giving you that many books! UNLESS! YOU REALIZED HOW MUCH YOUTH WAS CONTAINED IN THE INFORMATION OF THESE BOOKS AND YOU DECIDED THAT IN ALL YOUR YOUTHFULNESS-"

"Tsume-sama gave it to me." Naruto said casually as his eyes scanned another passage of information regarding chakra-enhanced canines.

Naruto looked up when he heard no response regarding 'youth'. He saw a depressed raining cloud overhead on his Taijutsu instructor. A humorously depressed and hurt expression on Gai's face appeared along with a gushing stream of tears.

"OH WHY WOULD YOU DO SUCH AN UNYOUTHFUL ACTION MY STUDENT?! HAVE I FAILED YOU IN TEACHING THE YOUTHFULNESS OF MY WAYS!? FOR MY FAILURES I SHALL RUN TO SUNA WITH A NORTHERN COW ATTACHED TO MY CHEST AND-"

"Gai-sensei! Calm down! She's not training me!" Gai looked at his student with a glint of hope in his eyes, "well, she _technically_ is training me but not really. I mean she is teaching me via these books…"

Hearing those words, Gai continued wailing. Naruto exhaled a forceful breath in frustration, "GAI-SENSEI! I AM GOING TO BE GETTING A DOG SO THAT IS WHY I WENT TO TSUME-SAN FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO TAKE CARE OF IT! SO WILL YOU PLEASE CALM DOWN?!"

Upon hearing those words, Gai's sullen demeanor quickly did a one-eighty and he struck his patented nice-guy pose. With a thumb up and teeth shining, Gai smiled and laughed boisterously, "HAHA! OF COURSE MY YOUTHFUL STUDENT WOULD NEVER ABANDON ME! FOR MY UNYOUTHFUL THOUGHTS AND ASSUMPTIONS, I SHALL RUN SEVEN HUNDRED LAPS AROUND THE VILLAGE! BY THAT TIME, I EXPECT MY STUDENT TO FINISH AND RETAIN ALL THE MATERIALS GIVEN TO HIM!"

Naruto furrowed his brows, "How long will you take to run seven hundred laps?"

"THREE HOURS MY DEAR STUDENT!"

"YOU EXPECT ME TO FINISH ALL SEVENTY-TWO BOOKS IN THREE HOURS!?"

Gai cocked his head, "Whatever do you mean my dear student? This should be easy for you given that you have the **Kage Bunshin No Jutsu** at your disposal!"

Naruto peered at him suspiciously, "And what the hell- OW!"

"NONE OF THAT UNYOUTHFUL LANGUAGE!"

Naruto pouted as he rubbed the bruised that sported on top of his head, "Sorry! Geez! Anyhoo! What does the **Kage Bunshin No Jutsu** have to do with anything? Other than fighting, all it does is send me memories and I can't really do anything with that besides-"

Naruto's eyes widened, "Oh."

Gai exposed all his shining teeth in a bright smile, "INDEED NARUTO-KUN! I AM GLAD YOU WERE ABLE TO COME TO THE CONCLUSION ON YOUR OWN!"

Naruto shook his head and smacked himself in the face for being so stupid, "Dang it! I thought I could use the jutsu sort of like that but I didn't think that anyone could've created something that useful! I only used it to spar with myself at this point!"

Gai frowned and his voice lacked its usual exuberance and in place of it was a seriousness Naruto rarely heard, "Naruto, who taught you the **Kage Bunshin No Jutsu**? I'm sorry to say that they didn't do a very adequate job of informing you of all the features to that jutsu."

Naruto rubbed his head nervously, "Actually sensei… uh… I sort of learned it by myself…"

Gai's eyes widened before it narrowed, that particular jutsu was an A-ranked kinjutsu, "Explain please."

So Naruto went into the general gist of what had happened… even Iruka-sensei's death. However, he did not mention that Mizuki had been killed by him; he didn't trust anyone but the jiji with that piece of information. It wasn't that he didn't trust Gai-sensei but he didn't the man he had come consider as one of his precious people to change about him.

When he had finished his story about the eventful night of the 'exam' Mizuki-teme gave him, he almost went on to telling him about the events that was shrouded with Itachi's involvement. He quickly caught himself though, it probably wouldn't sit too well with Gai-sensei- or anyone for that matter, that the village pariah was involved with the mass murdering traitor to the Uchiha clan. Regardless, Naruto knew it probably wouldn't have mattered if he had told Gai about the brutal torture he received the night of the massacre. Yep, the story with just Iruka-sensei would probably cause Gai to start crying waterfalls whilst hugging him.

Much like right now. Turning blue, Naruto managed to croak out a hoarse choke, "C-CAN'T BREATHE!"

Although Naruto didn't tell him, Gai already knew what had happened to him on the night of the massacre, as did every other jounin.

Gai immediately dropped his chokehold- err, _hug_ and apologized with his same old exuberance, "OH YOUTHFUL KAMI! I APOLOGIZE GREATLY FOR UNYOUTHFULLY STRAINING YOUR ESOPHAGUS WITH MY LIMBS!"

* * *

 **X**

* * *

"OH YOUTHFUL KAMI! NARUTO-KUN I APOLOGIZE GREATLY FOR UNYOUTHFULLY STRAINING YOUR ESOPHAGUS WITH MY LIMBS!"

Elsewhere, a 17 year old with violet/purple styled in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail haired female clad in a tan trench coat walked by. She had light brown, pupil-less eyes and she wore a fitted mesh body suit that stretched from her collar bone down to her thighs. The mesh body armor showed off her rather curvaceous figure. Her trench coat had a purple in-seam and a pocket on each side. Underneath her trench coat, she was wearing a dark orange mini-skirt, a dark blue belt, and pale grey shin guards.

Next to her was another female of the same age. Kurenai Yuuhi was a fair-skinned woman and she had long black untamed hair reaching her upper back, red in color outfit consists of a red mesh armor blouse with only the right sleeve visible. Bandage wrapping covered her upper thighs and nothing covered her long and rather attractive legs. However, the most prominent feature were her eyes; a vibrant red that held most men mesmerized.

Anko Mitarashi choked on her dango. She blanched and dry heaved as she recognized the voice, "Oh kami, I _fucking_ knew he was gay!"

Kurenai frowned, "I'm sure there is an explanation for his… _choice of words._ " Yet Kurenai couldn't help but think that the evidence was overwhelmingly in the favor of Gai playing for the _other_ team, so to speak.

"Come on Nai-chan! He's a gay! Homo! Flaming flamingo! Take your pick; but you heard it loud and clear!" Anko cried out.

Anko looked at the sake bottle and cup in her hand and promptly threw away the cup that was used to pace the rate of consumption for said alcohol and downed the whole bottle in one go. She winced slightly at the amount of burning that followed after drinking the liquor but it had to be done, _'I've totally gotta forget about that shit. Never EVER do I want to hear anything sexual that involves or revolves around the bushed freak.'_

With that thought, she procured another sake bottle from thin air and downed that one in one go as well, she closed her eyes as the alcohol hit her.

"FUCKING SHIT I BETTER GET DRUNK ENOUGH TO FORGET ABOUT TODAY!" She howled as she brought a third sake bottle to her lips.

Kurenai shook her head and rolled her eyes, sometimes Anko was such a drama queen. Kurenai pried the bottle away from a protesting Anko and said, "No getting drunk before a mission! Now hurry up, we don't want to keep the hokage waiting."

Anko pouted, "Who cares about the old coot! My mental stability is at stake here!"

Kurenai rolled her eyes once more, "I think you lost it long time ago."

"By 'it' are we talking about our V-card? Cause I know I didn't lose mine; in fact, I gave it away to a certain red-eyed chuunin." Anko leered at a blushing Kurenai lecherously.

"Anko! Don't say that aloud!" Kurenai hissed.

Anko pouted, "You're no fun!"

"Not what you thought a couple weeks ago." Muttered a still scarlet faced Kurenai.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Naruto took in deep breaths to refill the oxygen that was lacking from his lungs. He looked up to see Gai still crying about how unyouthful his actions were. He was screaming self-repercussions he was going to inflict upon himself while Naruto looked back down while shaking his head.

Sometimes, the man was an idiot.

And all the time, Naruto was an idiot for training with him.

He frowned as he thought he heard a female cursing the day as the bane of her existence or something but he just shrugged; The inhabitants of Konogakure No Sato could be extremely weird.

Example one: Maito Gai.

"-AFTER THAT, I SHALL CRAWL BACKWARDS UP THE HOKAGE MONUMENT-"

"Hey Gai-sensei."

"YES MY YOUTHFUL STUDENT?"

"Weren't you gonna go run around the village?"

"INDEED I SHALL DO THAT NOW! READY, SET, GO!" When his self-timer got to 'go', Gai sped off. Naruto sighed and shook his head with a slightly amused smile. He then turned his attention to the matters at hand. Forming the tiger seal, Naruto muttered a quick, " **Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!** " several plumes of smoke appeared and dissipated to reveal twenty clones. Naruto cheerfully handed out all the books to the grumbling clones and went back to his own.

"Man! Why do we have to do this?"

"Boss sucks for making us do this!"

"Boss blows."

"He really is an idiot."

The real Naruto rolled his eyes, "you dipthongs, I am you guys and you guys are _me_! If I'm an idiot, then we all are!"

Silence met the ears of the original Naruto who had a satisfied smiled on his face, _'There! That sure shut them the hell up. Score one for the original Naru-'_

"You still suck."

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Surprisingly enough, Naruto finished reading the pamphlets and books of information in two hours. However, he found that he didn't really know a lot of the bigger and complicated words so he also took to reading some dictionary books. All in all, he felt that it was a pretty productive day. It was definitely better than learning nothing at the academy.

This time when he dispelled his clones, he made sure to do it at set intervals. His last experience with clones made him shudder with fear; the headache that came along with dispelling a massive amount of clones was most definitely _not_ pleasant. So for the first set of dispelling clones, he dispelled two and found that the influx of information wasn't painful at all. He then dispelled three and found like the first dispelling of clones, it didn't hurt.

Feeling confident, Naruto dispelled five clones and also found, to his delight, that it didn't hurt. Now armed with an incredible sense of boldness, he dispelled the remaining ten clones and shouted with triumph after he sorted through the information that was retained in the clones.

Naruto frowned as he waited for a certain Taijutsu specialist to return to his abode; he didn't have anything to do so he wanted to train. It was that or go back to the academy for the remainder of class…

And he wasn't gonna do that.

"Man! Gai-sensei is taking forever; I'm never gonna be hokage at this rate!" the blonde demon container complained. He went to smack his forehead out of habit when it actually came in contact with his forehead. Usually his goggles were there to protect it so he could actually put some force behind his habitual self-inflicting frustrated forehead smacking.

"ITAI! WHAT THE HELL?! WHERE THE HELL IS MY GOGG- oh damn it! I left it back in the classroom when the puppy chewed it up! Ugh." Naruto raked his hands downward on his face as he let out a frustrated groan, "Kuso! Where should I go to get a new one?"

Naruto sat down criss-cross style with his arms folded on his chest as he tried thinking of how to obtain new goggles. "Damn it! I wish I had someone to help me with this! If only I could-" An idea flashed through his head, and he slapped his forehead again out of habit. "OW! SHIT! BUT DAMN IT! I'M SUCH AN IDIOT!"

Quickly forming the tiger seal, Naruto cried out, " **Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!** " Three clones poofed into existence and sat with him forming a neat little cross. The clones raised their eyebrows in a questioning manner, "Why are we here boss?!"

Naruto nearly slapped his forehead again, "How do you guys not know?! You guys are me! We should have the same thought process!"

Drawing blank looks from his clones, Naruto pouted, "I need some help with finding a new set of goggles so getting this amazing idea" he gestured to the clones, "of forming a Naruto committee, I summoned you guys!"

One of the clones dispelled from slapping his forehead too hard; the clone didn't know if the boss was a genius or an idiot savant. The original Naruto narrowed his eyes at his dispelled clones thought. Naruto quickly replaced that **Kage Bunshin** and he turned to the clones now present, "Alright! I need ideas now!"

"You could have us **Henge** into a pair of goggles!" one of the clones suggested excitedly.

"No."

"You can go without the goggles."

"Not doing that either."

"You can draw the goggles on your forehead."

"Kami you guys suck."

"HEY! WE'RE YOU!"

"Hmph!"

The real Naruto took on a bored expression as his clones discussed in the most absurd way of how to acquire a new set of goggles. Eventually, Naruto stood up and shouted, "ALRIGHT ENOUGH! FORGET ALL YOUR STUPID IDEAS! EVERYONE IS GONNA USE A **HENGE** TO FIND AND BUY ONE!"

Immediately, all the clones protested this simple idea by shouting that their idea was better and more sophisticated. The original Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to control his anger. Face twitching with irritation, the original Naruto growled. Suddenly, another brilliant idea sprang to mind, "ALRIGHT! FIRST ONE TO BRING THE SAME STYLED GOGGLE WILL GET THE LIMITED EDITION CUP OF RAMEN!"

All arguments and protest ended with the clones stumbling and tripping over each other while they headed to the exit screaming passionately about their sacred and beloved ramen.

"Oi you bastards! When you're done, I'm gonna be at the training grounds!" Naruto yelled after them. The clones flipping him the bird showed that they had acknowledged his statement. Naruto sighed as he locked his door and left a note to Gai that explained he'd be at the training grounds.

' _Man… disrespectful clones...'_ Naruto mentally grumbled.

"Yosh! Time to get out of here!" Excited at the prospect of training, Naruto dashed to his intended destination with eagerness.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

From the trees, Gai stood on a branch with the side of his shoulder against the tree for support. He watched Naruto leave his apartment with a proud gleam in his eyes.

Gai sighed.

"I really don't want to give him to you… I have grown most attached to the youthful boy…"

"Maa maa, it's not like you won't see him again. Besides, I'm sure you'll be getting your genin team in the next year or so." Came the voice of one Hatake Kakashi.

Gai scowled slightly, "Even so, what happens if he wishes to pursue Taijutsu as his specialty?"

"It won't happen." Kakashi replied flatly. Seeing that Gai was about to argue, Kakashi quickly held his hand up, "But in the tiny whimsical chance that it does happen, he will be your main student. Regardless, I will help him better himself as a shinobi, no matter what."

Satisfied with the smile, Gai nodded, "Of course, that is in your right; seeing as to how the father was your sensei… you know, the boy reminds me greatly of our youthful comrade Obitio, wouldn't you agree my rival?"

Gai sighed as he didn't hear a response. However, this response (or non-response) was to be expected from his rival. Gai looked to his left at the now vacant spot where Kakashi had been with a sad look. Approaching the subject of Obito Uchiha with his youthful rival was obviously still a sore subject.

It was ironic really, Naruto was very much like Obito in both appearance and mentality. Both were rather loud and lacking in the academy, if someone were to dye Naruto's hair black, they would be hard-pressed to identify him if they were looking at him from the back. Now if you kept the dyed hair and replaced Naruto's blue eyes with the classic Uchiha eyes, you would _absolutely_ be unable to tell the difference.

Of course you gotta remove the whiskers too.

He looked towards the direction that his young student had left in; hopefully Naruto could restore Kakashi's will of fire completely.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Naruto undid his **Henge** as he reached the training field he used to usually train with Gai. Standing in place, he stood on his tip toes and stretched his limbs towards the skies. Coming back down, he yawned and slammed his fist into an open palm, he grinned, "Alright! Let's get down to business!" With that being said, he formed the tiger seal and yelled, **"** **Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!** " Two shadow clones popped up and immediately went into the **Goken** **(Iron fist)** stance and faced the original.

Naruto grinned, "Alright you bastards! Sparring time! Bring it on!"

The two shadow clones immediately shouted battled cries before charging at him. Naruto smiled wryly, was he really that dumb? He realized that there was chance that he'd probably – Actually no, he actually _would_ do that if it was a fight. His smile turned into a frown; he'd have to fix that mentality otherwise it'd become a big issue.

His musings was cut off as the **Kage Bunshins** sent a sweeping low kick and a punch aimed at his face simultaneously. Naruto smirked, although his clones' battle tactics were a bit flawed, he couldn't help but admit that the tandem in which his clones' attacked in was pretty dang good. Realizing that the attacks were about to land if he didn't do anything, he leapt backwards to avoid the blows and settled into his own **Goken** **(Iron Fist)** stance.

The excitement was palpable from his body as his gaze darted to and from between his two opponents. There was no panic for him because he's been in situations very similar to this.

Bullies and villagers always came at him in numbers. It was the only chance they had really, If it was one on one, he'd simply run away. He wasn't ever allowed to fight back but seeing as to how the villagers _and_ shinobis were getting… _bolder_ , so to speak, he had to learn how to take on multiple opponents.

Besides, you'd never know what would happen on the battlefield as a ninja. There'd probably be times in which he'd find himself outnumbered.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he analyzed his current situation and his next course of action. The **Kage Bunshins** , seeing the calculative eyes of the original, split towards two different directions. Trying to keep out of his line of sight as much as possible, the clones rested on the peripherals of the real Naruto.

Naruto smiled, Guess his clones actually weren't _that_ dumb. He paused for a moment and frowned, he essentially just called himself dumb. He shook himself out of his musings as his **Kage Bunshins** came at him from both sides.

Just as the hits were about to make contact, Naruto jumped and sent his legs towards both sides, effectively stalemating the punches aimed at him in midair. Instead of letting his clones recover from their slightly shocked stupor, Naruto seized the opportunity and kicked off a fist of a clone that sent him towards the other clone that was still in contact with his foot. Latching onto the forearms and bicep with his hands, Naruto swung the foot that he kicked off of the other clone and sent it crashing into the clone's face he was currently latched onto.

Naruto smirked as the clone he had just hit dispelled. As soon as he landed, the clone he now had behind him came in with a kick of its own. The original Naruto having just landed, sensed that he had no time to dodge. So he did the next best thing you could possible do when a hit was imminent.

Gai-sensei had taught him that sometimes you couldn't escape a situation no matter how much effort you put into avoiding it. Sometimes- no, eventually, you _will_ have to face the problem.

This could apply to every aspect in life; not just action-oriented situations, but tactics, politics, and definitely romance too. When Naruto had been told that, he nodded sagely, as if he understood everything that Gai-sensei had just said. He could've if he wanted too, but he didn't care about those things. Action was what Naruto was about, so he paid little attention to the other things Gai-sensei had lectured him on. It's not like he had to worry about any of those things anyways.

Yet.

But just because you had to face a situation head on didn't mean you go charging in and meeting it. No, Naruto knew from instinct that there were different ways to approach a situation. One way to deal with a situation was to simply, as the saying went, 'Roll with punches.'

So that's exactly what he did with his clone's kick rapidly approaching him.

He rolled with it. Going in the direction the kick would have careened him towards; he passed the solid contact as a glancing blow. It stung, but it wasn't nearly as painful as how it would have been had the kick made direct contact. He recovered in a one-kneeling position whilst caressing the right side of his face. He grimaced as he felt the slight swell on his jaw; that was gonna leave a mark.

The **Kage Bunshin** smirked and the original scowled, seeing arrogance on his pseudo-body irked him. _'Definitely don't like being cocky like the teme. Gotta fix that if it becomes a problem… confidence is okay, arrogance is not.'_

Both clone and original Naruto shot off towards each other and engaged in an exchange of fists, kicks, elbows, and knees. Eventually Naruto managed to one up his clone by sending a fierce kick towards his clones knee.

Naruto panted slightly; his stamina was nothing short of amazing, but facing someone who was of the same caliber as you would wear you down. Shaking his head, he formed the tiger seal and formed _five_ **Kage Bunshins.**

Everyone took their respective **Goken** stance and faced the original. Naruto grimaced, it was gonna be a long day.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

 **A/N: ATTENTION READERS! I need some information regarding gravity seals and what not. If someone can give a crash course in the reviews, that'd be muchly appreciated. Actually fuinjutsu information would be pretty cool too- Actually, information on anything would be pretty cool lol.**

 **By the way, any dog name suggestions?!**

 **Actually, any constructive criticism is cool too.**

 **Hell, I'll even take a flame.**

 **P.S. I Dunno how a beta works so… info about that would be great too. Like do I just send a beta my document and he sends it back when it's all edited and blah?!**

 **P.S.S: I need a beta!**

 **Sorry ya'll! Thank ya much though!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: And the poll comes to a close! Naruto's future team has been settled! It is none other than !#$$# ! #$ #$! # Sorry! The reveal will come later.**

 **But don't worry; There's another thing that you as the readers can alter, Please enter in the** _ **REVIEWS**_ **of who you want in the Harem!**

 **Ino and Anko are already in! review review!**

 **THANK YOU TO THE 90 USERS WHO VOTED!**

 **Regarding the Dog's name, I decided to use "Saki", suggested by Vagrant Reader. According to Vagrant, it means "Blossoming Hope." So thank you Vagrant!**

 **To the Reviewers:**

 **FF8cerberus: Thank you very much! I'm glad you appreciate the story! Thanks for the review!**

 **AzureSoulReaper: Nice! Thank you for reviewing! I'll be adding a count of which girls were suggested and how many people voted along with them!**

 **Arckane: I'm sorry you feel that way but it's just Gai being the one who would bring such a reaction; and that was only for Anko. Kurenai was rather subdued. And as for his strength increase, it will begin next chapter.**

 **Aramus13: I love when the Main character gets compliments! Sorry about your suggestion! Vagrant reader suggested first! Thank you tough! Kali is an awesome name.**

 **The UltimateRasenShuriken: Uh, romance wont start for a while.**

 **Guest: Will Naruto be OP? guess it depends. He** _ **WILL**_ **be stronger than his peers. But he's not gonna be jounin right off the bat. He'll be stronger than most of all Konoha after timeskip but until then, not too OP.**

 **RagingNileStyx: Yes it is! The dog looks like a beast!**

 **Thank you everyone else for the reviews!**

* * *

"Speech"

' _thought'_

" **Jutsu: in use** **"**

' _ **Kyuubi/Summon thought'**_

" **Kyuubi/Summon speech"**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but this fanfic! All rights go to their respective owners!**

* * *

 **Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself**

 **Chapter 5: Foreshadow of Change**

* * *

 **X**

* * *

"Do you understand your objectives?"

"Hai, Leader-sama." Came a certain monotonous voice.

"Yesss indeed, Leader… _sama_." Another silky voice hissed.

The mysterious shadowed figure shrouded in darkness seemed to have given a curt nod, "You are both dismissed."

Itachi simply turned to leave as the figure that had dismissed him seemed to have dissipated into thin air, showing that he was never _really_ there.

"What's the rush Itachi? Surely you can wait a few moments kukuku…"

Itachi sighed and turned towards the person, and he used the term 'person' loosely, who had just addressed him, "Just make sure you do your part of the mission… Any other objectives are not a priority. I hope that is clear with you… Orochimaru."

The snake Sannin snorted, "Of course not Itachi… I would never jeopardize the mission for my own agenda… kukuku." The pale skinned man walked on ahead before smiling deviously, _'Soon… very soon… your body will finally be mine Itachi…'_

Itachi narrowed his eyes after his partner for this mission.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

"KUSOOOO!" Naruto groaned. "That was one hell of a workout."

Naruto was on the grass lying down face up. He drew in a relaxing breath as the wind ruffled his hair lightly. His gaze went up to the clear azure sky appreciating everything within his sights. The sun shined brightly as Naruto held his hand up to it.

Wind blew gently caressed his skin and parted his hair. Naruto sighed, it was such a nice day to relax and enjoy the day. He closed his eyes and drank in the peace, he took in a deep breath and exhaled, "Pheew! Today is such a nice day, I'm glad i could enjoy the peace-"

"BOSS! I GOT IT! BOSS! HEY BOSS!"

Naruto groaned, so much for enjoying the tranquil serenity of Mother Nature. Well at least it was just one clone this tim-

"NO WAIT BOSS! I HAVE THE BETTER GOGGLES!" another clone yelled from different direction

"NO YOU DON'T! I TOTALLY HAVE THE BETTER ONE! YOU FAT TURD!"

Naruto slammed his head against the ground repeatedly, "FOR THE LOVE OF KAMI! WILL YOU BOTH SHUT THE FUC-"

"DYYYYYNAAAAMIC ENTRY!"

Naruto stood up and threw his hands up in the air, "OH FOR KAMI'S SAKE, WHY THE HELL- NO! YOU KNOW WHAT! EVERYONE LEAVE RIGHT THE FUC-"

Gai suddenly blurred over and gave the original Naruto an overzealous patting on the back, effectively knocking the original Naruto back into the ground, "MY STUDENT! YOUR YOUTH IS FLAMING BRIGHT TODAY! IT IS A MUST FOR US TO TRAIN TO THE MAX! PREPARE FOR A SURPRISE TRAINING SESSION! A SHINOBI MUST NEVER BE CAUGHT OFF GUARD!"

"BUPH I ALRENNY TRAIMPHED!" came Naruto's muffled reply seeing as to how he was still being 'patted' into the ground.

"WHAT WAS THAT MY YOUTHFUL STUDENT?! I COULD NOT HEAR YOU OVER THE YOUTHFULNESS-"

Finally freeing himself, Naruto managed to sit up with a scowl on his face, "I _said_ , I already trained Gai-sensei!"

"NONSENSE! YOU CALL THAT TRAINING?! STRETCH IT OUT MY YOUNG PADAWAN!"

Naruto blinked, "What the hell is a padawan!?"

Gai smiled cheerfully and yelled out, "I DO NOT KNOW EITHER! BUT IT SEEMED TO HAVE FIT THE YOUTHFUL FLOW OF THE STATEMENT! NOW PREPARE YOURSELF!"

The two clones who had showed up looked at each other and nodded with a mutual understanding in their eyes; The special edition ramen was not worth witnessing this shit. Yelling out a quick "good luck" to their original, they dispelled themselves leaving two goggles in their places.

"Traitors." Naruto muttered before turning his attention to his Taijutsu teacher, he shook his head and sighed before a determined look came across his face,"Alrighty Gai-sensei, this better help me become hokage dattebayo!"

"YOSH! IF MY YOUTHFUL STUDENT DOES NOT BECOME HOKAGE I WILL…"

Naruto knew it was better to censor out Gai-sensei's rant in his mind and focus on other things.

' _Hmm, I wonder what I should name her… Tsume-san is gonna kick my ass six ways to Sunday if I don't-'_

" **KONOHA SENPUU** **(Leaf Whirlwind)**!" Gai cried out as he twirled in the air to land a kick on Naruto's face.

Normally, that move wouldn't have caught Naruto off guard but unfortunately, he was musing on potential names for the soon-to-be his pup. The kick sent him rocketing towards a tree.

"AND THAT MY YOUTHFUL STUDENT, IS EXACTLY WHY YOU MUST NOT EVER BE CAUGHT OFF GUARD!"

Naruto moaned in pain as he picked himself up from the now fallen over tree, "ughhh…" He touched his cheek tentatively and winced as he felt the swollen lump of skin.

"Fucking hell that hurt." Naruto muttered to himself. He shook himself off and faced toward the middle of the training grounds where his teacher was standing with a stupidly large grin plastered on his face.

Naruto grimaced, _'Time to get beaten up…'_

* * *

 **X**

* * *

With a grunt, Naruto kicked his door open and shuffled inside much like a zombie. He paused for a moment; he supposed in a way he was a zombie, after all, that training session he had just partaken in pretty much killed him. He tiredly sauntered over to the bathroom and took off his clothes. He looked in the mirror and wolf whistled.

"Damn, I'm looking pretty good."

The hard work of chakra-induced physical training was definitely showing. Although he was still pretty scrawny, he wasn't all bone now. There was a slight tone of muscle in his arms and sings of a soft four-pack of abs were beginning to show.

A few more months of working out hard along with a proper diet would make him fill out much more nicely. He became giddy with excitement; who didn't love seeing a noticeable improvement? So with thoughts on his future… 'bad-assery', so to speak, he entered his tub and showered in a slight daze.

' _Man I can't wait to see what I look like in a few months! At this rate, I'm gonna be hokage in no time dattebayo!'_ an exhilarated Naruto thought. Then he became slightly crestfallen, _'Damnit! I forgot I can't eat as much ramen now… this sucks so much donkey- no! this is a sacrifice I have to make to get better! Alright! Now the book on proper dieting said I should eat protein filled meals… Alright chicken breast and beef were pretty high in protein and I can just add seasoning with brown rice- MAN THAT IS SO MUCH FREAKING COOKING!? HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO- oh wait!'_

Seriously, he needed to stop forgetting about the most amazing jutsu in the world. Naruto grinned as he muttered a quick " **Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!"**

Plumes of smokes suddenly encased the tight space of his tub as he summoned three butt naked clones.

…

Naruto stared at his counterparts with a rather blank owlish look.

They stared right back with the same expression.

Someone coughed.

"Well… this is awkward."

... Another pause.

"D-Does this make us g-gay?" a clone whispered horrifically.

Awkward silence permeated the air around the tub filled with Narutos.

Someone coughed again.

"… can you guys get out and cook now?"

Surprisingly, no one protested and they carefully exited lest they touch each other with _certain_ appendages. When the last clone left, Naruto slapped himself on the forehead on purpose this time; this smack was well deserved.

Never, _ever_ , was he going to repeat that mistake.

Naruto eventually got out of the shower after a relaxing fifteen minutes. He would've stayed longer but the eventual aroma of seasoned chicken and beef wafted through the crevices of the door. When he got out to the kitchen, there was a plate loaded with veggies, chicken, beef, and brown rice. He frowned while looking around, _'Where the hell are the clones at- huh? What's that note?'_ seeing a piece of paper on the corner of the table, he walked over and examined it.

 _To The Original:_

 _We have done as you asked. Now we ask a favor of you. Never EVER summon us in such close proximity without clothes._

 _Ever._

 _Signed:_

 _Clone one, two, and three._

Naruto nodded furiously in agreement, yes, no one shall ever hear the light of day about this. Silently thanking kami for having no one there to witness his embarrassing plight, he sat down and looked his food with evident desire.

It looked pretty dang good.

Thanking his clones and muttering a quick "Itadakimasu!", he began eating. He chewed thoughtfully before blinking; it tasted…

Basic.

What the hell!?

Should've known better than to think his clones -and by proxy, himself- could make a five-star meal on their first try.

Oh well, what could he do but keep on practicing? With that thought on his mind, Naruto wolfed down the rest of his food and belched barbarically. He smacked his lips in a satisfied manner, "Although it wasn't that good, it sure hit the spot!" he said while patting his bulging stomach affectionately.

After he felt digested, Naruto then began to perform his routine stretches; Gai-sensei told him he had to start implementing stretches daily, once after he wakes up, and once before he went to sleep.

Gai-sensei had something about taller and more limber that would allow greater blah blah blah, all Naruto knew was that after a workout, stretches felt heavenly. So he did them, otherwise, he'd probably wouldn't do it seeing as to how no one was there to force him to.

After going through various stretches for about fifteen minutes, he went over to his bed and collapsed on it with a satisfied moan. He released a big sigh and curled up to his little plush doll.

Yes indeed.

Ten year old Naruto still has a giant toad plush.

In all actuality, it was really freaking ugly. But still, it was _his_. He treasured everything he received as a gift. Naruto frowned, to this day, he still wasn't able to figure out on who even gave it to him. It was just there on his bed one day.

Initially, he thought it was a trap.

I mean come on, a big ass plush staring at you in the eyes while sitting propped up dead center on the bed. To Naruto, that was suspicious as hell. So naturally, Naruto went to his good ol' jiji and told him about it. But Instead of being worried as he was, the Sandaime had an amused expression.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, rest assured it is no trap. In fact, think of it as a gift from someone watching over you…"

Naruto had pestered and interrogated what he meant by that statement, but he never got a straight answer from the Hokage.

Ah well, he had long since given up on finding out who had gave him his doll- er, plush animal. Naruto yawned as he pulled the giant stuffed toad closer to him as he drifted to sleep.

 **X**

Naruto drummed his fingers against the desk relentlessly as he peered out the window. He had somehow managed to get to class a bit early again and once again a certain Uchiha was near him.

"Fight me dobe."

Naruto sighed. This had been going on for the past ten minutes.

"Teme, you said so yourself: I am the freakin _dobe_. _Why_ would you want to fight the dobe of all people? Shouldn't you fight Kiba or someone else?" Naruto asked in an annoyed voice; though he suspected the reason of Sasuke wanting to fight him had something to do with Itachi.

"I don't care dobe, I demand a fight right now!"

"Nah."

"I demand a fight as an Uchiha!"

"I dont care if you're an Uchiha."

Sasuke glared at the blonde before resuming his demands, "You should be honored! Now stand up and fight!"

"I don't wanna."

"FIGHT ME DOBE!"

"Alright."

"Fight me- wait, what? You agre- Of course you'll fight me! I am an Uchiha! I will always get what I want!"

Naruto held his chin thoughtfully, "Hmm, alright, lets meet at training grounds 249."

"Where the hell is that at dobe?" Sasuke angrily asked.

"Don't tell me the almighty Sasuke-sama doesn't know where a simple training ground is? So much for being the superior intellectual being-"

"Shut up dobe! I'll find it right now!" Sasuke seethed before angrily storming out.

Naruto leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up on his desk and gave a relaxed airy sigh.

A lazy voice spoke, "There is no training grounds 249, is there?"

Naruto smirked before responding to Shikamaru, "Of course not! I just had to get the teme off my back somehow dattebayo!"

Shikamaru muttered a quick "Troublesome" before placing his head down on the desk to sleep once again. Naruto gave an amused snort; he supposed that's why Shikamaru was always early… get those extra minutes of sleep before his 'troublesome' mother scolded him for being a classic lazy Nara.

Naruto decided to take a note from his fellow classmate and set his head down to sleep as well. Hopefully it would probably be a few days before Sasuke realized there wasn't a training grounds 249.

Ten minutes later, he heard a person sliding into the seat next to him. Naruto sniffed once and internally rolled his eyes, _'Great, what does he want?"_

"OI, NARUTO! WAKE UP MAN!"

Surprisingly, the one who responded to the rather obnoxious voice was none other than one Shikimaru Nara.

"Troublesome, Kiba, you're five minutes early. Go away or drag Naruto somewhere else."

"Or-how about this guys- _or_ how about you _both_ go away and argue while I, the Great Naruto Uzumaki resumes his nap huh?"

Kiba shook his head furiously, "No can do! My mom would neuter me if I didn't do what she asked me to do."

Naruto's head slowly went up and turned his head equally as slow towards the Inuzuka heir. With suspicious eyes, Naruto stared at Kiba, "What did your mom want?"

"She wants you to have the name by the end of today! Alright?! Bye!" Kiba rushed his words and made to get out of the seat knowing that Naruto would freak out, but instead of being quite a distance away, he found himself in an iron-like vice grip.

"WHAT THE HELL?! BY THE END OF TODAY?! KAMI! WHAT KIND OF BULLSH-"

"CLASS IS STARTING! NARUTO! DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT SENTENCE!" The teacher screamed as she slammed the door shut.

Kiba sighed in relief as Naruto released him. Kiba stuck out a tongue while Naruto grumbled about lucky mutts.

Naruto paid no attention as the teacher began his lecture. Instead, his mind was running through potential names. If Tsume-san wanted the name by the end of today, he pretty much had no choice but to pick a name; Tsume Inuzuka was one of the women that he was pretty sure not to mess with.

' _Hmm… Let's see... what can I name a girl dog… Akame? Nah… Hmm… Ugh. This is too much of a responsibility for me…'_

For the rest of the class, Naruto came up with potential names all the while scratching off other names he didn't like.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

"So what do you think of that one?!" Naruto asked his companion.

"No. Hell no. HELL TO THE NO." came the response.

Naruto frowned, "Why not?!"

"Cause you baka! No one would name their freakin dog 'tutu' of all things!"

Naruto crossed his arms indignantly, "But it's a cute name!"

"A stupid name." Kiba corrected him.

"Why don't you come up with a better name then?!" Naruto challenged.

"I will!" Kiba retorted.

Naruto growled in annoyance, this has been going on for the past twenty minutes. Initially, he didn't want to discuss anything with Kiba but the Inuzuka was insistent on escorting the blonde to his home compound. The whiskered teen was a bit annoyed at Kiba's gesture but there wasn't anything he could do about it. When they stepped out of the academy, Naruto mentally hit himself; already the villagers were staring at the pair of boys with loathing and contempt, although it was mostly directed at Naruto, a few stares seemed disgusted at Kiba being near the jinchuuriki.

Naruto prayed to Kami that Kiba wouldn't notice the glares but alas, Kiba wasn't _that_ oblivious to his settings. When Kiba turned to Naruto with intent to ask why the villagers were glaring at them, the blonde boy hastily requested that Kiba immediately helped with coming up with a good name for the pup.

Twenty minutes later, they found themselves deeply rooted into the process of naming the dog.

Which was what they were currently arguing about.

"Okay how about Mimi-chan?!"

Naruto stopped walking and looked at him with a deadpanned expression, "I'm not naming her 'ears'…" Naruto shook his head, "and you call me stupid!?"

"What! A ninken is your second set of senses man! What's the big deal-"

"Then why didn't you suggest shisen (Eyes)?

"That doesn't sound very female like, DUH." Kiba rolled his eyes.

"Kami you're an idiot."

"I know!" Kiba admitted rather proudly before looking at his blonde friend, "BUT! You're the dobe and i'd rather be an idiot than a dobe!"

Naruto sighed, "Whatever, we're here now, so let's get this show on the road."

"Dude, who even says stuff like that anymore."

"Screw off."

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Tsume twitched her eyes dangerously, "Tutu? That's the name you want to put on one of the most powerfully bred dog out there?" She pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation, "Why pup… _why_."

The whiskered blonde swallowed nervously.

"Cause it's cute?"

Naruto cowered as he felt the omnipotent pressure that seemingly every woman was able to exert. To his side, Kiba was struggling to contain his laughter lest he get the same treatment as his classmate-

"AND YOU KIBA!"

Kiba blanched, _'Shit._ '

"HOW COULD YOU LET YOUR FRIEND EVEN THINK OF SOMETHING STUPID LIKE THAT!?"

"But mom-"

"Don't you 'but mom' me boy! You know better than that!" Tsume scolded.

Naruto tugged at the collar of his jumpsuit nervously as Tsume proceeded to beat down her son. He slowly edged toward the exit while making himself small as possible. As he turned to twist the doorknob for his exit, he shuddered as he sensed someone behind him.

"And where do you think you're going pup?"

Naruto gulped.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

After Naruto received a bit of a harsh scolding from the head of the Inuzuka head, he was sent out of the compound to his house. Naruto nursed the bruise forming on his head, apparently, he wasn't putting enough effort into the name. The blonde jinchuuriki frowned, "I didn't know that naming a puppy was such a big freakin deal." Naruto muttered to no one in particular.

He gave himself a frustrated forehead smacking only to find that he _still_ didn't have his goggles, _again_ , "Ow dammit! I forgot my goggles at the training grounds yesterday!" Naruto groaned.

"Guess I gotta head to the training grounds." Naruto grumbled to himself, "Ugh, maybe I'll get some light training in…" With those words, the blonde started walking towards the training grounds.

Dipping into an alleyway, Naruto hid himself from the public eye. He **Henge'd** into another civilian that didn't stand out much and rejoined the bustling village. As he headed toward the training grounds, he noticed that the day was still early, maybe noon, at the latest. He pondered as to why he had so much time left for several minutes before coming to the conclusion that the new academy teacher wasn't prepared to fill Iruka-sensei's role.

"Oh well! I'll just train while coming up with the name… after all, **Kage Bunshins** are just that awesome." Naruto thought aloud. Realizing that he had reached his destination, the whiskered blonde summoned several **Kage Bunshins** to roam the training ground in search of his goggles.

Several minutes later, the **Kage Bunshins** convened where the original stood and presented the goggles to him. Naruto adjusted the goggles onto his forehead and sighed comfortably, it just felt so right! Looking at the clones, Naruto then proceeded to instruct that they sit down and come up with a name. the ten clones he summoned then went to a more secluded area and sat in a circle to discuss names.

The original Naruto yelped a quick " **Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!** " and summoned several more clones to spar with.

Several hours later, Naruto was found lying down panting heavily on the ground. So much for 'light' training… it seems his clones didn't give two flying shit about him and definition of light. The blonde groaned as he up righted himself and started heading towards the circle of sitting clones.

"So did you guys come up with a name?" A bruised original Naruto asked.

"Oh yeah, we came up with in the first couple of minutes." A clone replied casually.

The real Naruto looked slightly offended, "The hell?! Why didn't you tell me immediately?!"

"Well we don't really get out much so we just enjoyed being outside!" another clone answered.

The original paused, "Alright, fair enough, but the name better be good or else!"

"We're _you_ remember?! Of course you're gonna like it!"

"Alright… let me hear it."

"The name we decided… is…"

Insert dramatic pause.

"BIG OL' PENIS!"

"WHAT THE FLYING FU-"

"Just kidding! We decided to go with Saki! It means blossoming hope! It's good ne?!"

"Hey, that's actually a good name! Good job everyone!" without waiting for their response, Naruto immediately dispelled them.

"Yatta! I'm gonna go tell Tsume-san right now!" Naruto excitedly **Henge'd** and ran towards the Inuzuka compound with obvious eagerness.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

"What do you mean I have to take a test?!" Naruto yelled. He repeated his yell again in pain as Tsume bopped him on top of his head.

"Don't you bark at me pup!" Tsume glared, efficiently silencing any protest that Naruto was about to voice, before continuing, "And the reason for this is because I don't know how adequate your knowledge is about taking care of a dog!"

"But you gave me the books to study for this moment-"

Tsume held her hand up, "I know pup, but who's to say you _actually_ did read it? I'm not saying you didn't but you still had the rest of this week to read it so you could've held off on reading it."

Naruto took on a contemplating face before blowing out a conceding breath, "Man... Fine, that's fair, I _guess_ … I'll take the stupid quiz."

Tsume gave an amused scoff before nodding in satisfaction. She promptly began questioning the young blonde about various aspects of taking care of a ninken and puppy in general. When Naruto answered all the questions to Tsume's satisfaction, she slapped him on the back, "Good job gaki! Knew you weren't an idiot my son made you out to be!"

Naruto's smug facial expression soured into a scowl, "What! I am not an idiot! The teachers are all just giant douchebags! I swear they can rival the douche baggery of the Hyuuga and the Uchihas-"

Tsume punched the boy on top of the head before chuckling, "No slandering names in my house! Understood?"

"H-hai Tsume-san! S-so what do you think of the name? Did you like it?" Naruto nervously asked. As Tsume stared at Naruto impassively for several moments, Naruto fidgeted and hastily spoke, "B-but o-of course I can change it! I'll just come back tomorrow or by sometime this week with a better and more reasonable and suitable nam-"

"I like it."

Tsume grinned at seeing the face plant of the boy; messing with the boy was pretty entertaining to say the least.

When Naruto recovered, he had an excited smile on his face, "Yay! I did pretty good huh!?"

Tsume patted the boy on the head affectionately, "You didn't do too shabby pup."

Naruto's eyes gleamed with pride as he bowed, "Thank you Tsume-san!" The Inuzuka head gave a surprising genuine smile and told him to wait there while she went to go retrieved _his_ puppy.

Naruto bounced with excitement as he waited, an irrevocable smile painted itself on the whiskered face of the jinchuuriki.

"Oi dobe! What are you doing in my house bouncing around like and idiot?!" Kiba Inuzuka all but yelled as he came into the room.

"OH! WHATS UP BAKA! I'M GETTING MY PUPPY NOW!" Naruto shouted back excitedly.

"You know, I've been meaning to ask… what kind of puppy are you getting anyways?!"

"Don't you remember the pup you brought to class?!" Naruto questioned.

Kiba's eyes widened. "Whoa whoa! _WHAT?!_ I thought mom just wanted to make you take care of the puppy for a bit cause we had no room in the kennels, not actually give you it!"

"That makes little to no sense man…"

"We don't have any rooms in our compound at the moment so I thought you'd be like a temporary dog sitter or something!"

Naruto shook his head with the smile on his face, "Nope! And you know what?! It has chakra coils so that means I bonded with a ninken-"

"Nope. Bullshit." Kiba interrupted flatly.

Naruto's smile that seemed forever happy dampened a bit into a pout, "What do you mean?! You can even ask your mom!"

"No! no way! Every Inuzuka bonds with a ninken for the rest of their lives! Why would it pick you over me? you're not even a part of any clans! How did an orphan get their ninken before a ninken partnered clan heir?!" Kiba yelled angrily.

The words that left Kiba's mouth stung at Naruto; maybe Kiba was right, was he actually worthy to be a companion to a ninken? He was just an orphan. He was just a nobody who just so happened to be in the right time at the right place-

"KIBA INUZUKA! HOW DARE YOU EVEN THINK OF THOSE WORDS?!"

Hana Inuzuka was considered more even-tempered than that of her kin, but even she had low tolerance to certain things. Degrading someone that doesn't deserve any of it was one of the things she held _no_ tolerance to; so imagine her coming home from her duties to hearing her little brother being such an ass to another human… needless to say, it did not make her happy, at _all_.

Kiba paled as he recognized the voice while Naruto looked around to identify the rather terrifying tone the person had yelled in. Hearing incoming footsteps pound their way through the hallway, Naruto and Kiba's focus zoomed in on the entryway the footsteps were heading toward.

Hana had long brown hair which she wore in a ponytail with two locks of hair framing her face over her large, black eyes. She also had a light shade of lipstick on and has the traditional fang-like tattoos of the Inuzuka clan on both of her cheeks.

"Kiba fucking Inuzuka! How dare you act like that to one of your classmates! I oughta-"

Naruto gulped nervously, "n-ne, erm Kirei na onee-san (Hey, pretty older sister!), you don't have to yell at him… I actually don't know what I was thinking when I wanted to adopt the puppy. " Naruto confessed.

Just then, Tsume walked in with the puppy and the baby canine immediately barked in excitement as it sighted the familiar mop of blonde hair. Tail wagging as Tsume set her down, the puppy immediately bolted towards Naruto and jumped to tackle the blonde.

"Whoa! Hey there little girl, how've you been! Haha!" Naruto held the puppy and laughed as the puppy licked his face.

"Bark! Bark bark!"

Hana Inuzuka decided to speak then, "See Naruto? The puppy loves you! And as long as you love it back, there won't be an issue… so make sure you love that puppy with everything you have, got it?

Naruto nodded and thanked Tsume and Hana as he held the puppy to his chest. He gave a deep bow to the two elder Inuzukas before leaving without acknowledging Kiba. Said Inuzuka heir was found creeping away as Hana rounded her fury towards him, "and where the hell do you think you're going?!"

Kiba paled, "Uh…"

Tsume frowned, "What's the issue Hana?"

Hana grabbed Kiba by the scruff and proceeded to tell their mother about what Kiba had said. Tsume stared at Kiba impassively as the child gulped.

"I'm in trouble, aren't I?" Kiba whimpered.

Intense screams of pains could later be heard from the Inuzuka compound for hours.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Naruto **Henge'd** into another random civilian and looked at Saki to see her taking on an adorably confused face. He picked her up and brought the pup to eye level, "Don't worry Saki-chan, it's just a disguise," he undid his **Henge** , "See?"

Saki simply wagged her tail and attempted to lick his face. Naruto chuckled as he set her back on the ground. "Alright Saki-chan! Let's go get you some food!" Naruto declared as he re-donned his disguise technique.

About fifteen minutes later Naruto found himself standing in front of the Inuzuka compound.

"I can't believe the ninken store is connected to the freakin' compound." He looked down at Saki, "Go figures huh?"

"Bark bark!"

Naruto chuckled and walked in the store with his puppy in tow. As he pushed the door open, bells jingled and he heard a quick greeting.

"Welcome to the Inuzuk-"

Suddenly, without him even noticing it, Naruto felt a kunai pressed against his throat and heard the assailant speak in low voice, "Where is he?!"

"Where is who-"

"BARK! BARK! RGGGHH!" Naruto heard the dog growl and leap at his assailant only to hear a thud followed by silence.

"SAKI!" Naruto cried out. In a moment of adrenaline fueled strength, Naruto loosened the grip and threw his assailant over his shoulder. Immediately, Naruto turned his attention to his dog and picked her up.

"Where is he?!" the assailant hissed.

Naruto turned towards the voice, "Where is wh- nee-chan?!"

"I won't ask again! Where the hel- wait what?!"

"Don't you recognize me dattebayo?!" Naruto cried out.

Hana Inuzuka narrowed her eyes at the man in front of her, "Where did you get that puppy?"

"Saki-chan? She's mine! We literally just met like twenty minutes ago! Why don't you recognize- Oh. Shit. Sorry!" Naruto quickly undid his **henge** to see Hana's tense stance.

Hana, realizing who the 'man' was, took on a horrified expression, "Oh kami! I am so sorry! I just thought you were someone who had hurt- well, you. And then you somehow had kidnapped Saki into following you and-"

"Nee-chan! It's okay! I promise dattebayo! But uh… can you fix Saki-chan now…?" Naruto asked.

Hana had the decency to at least look sheepish before she ushered Naruto and Saki into the clinic room.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

"Nee-chan! It's okay! I promise!" Naruto told her for what seemed like the hundredth time. Hana was horrified that she had knocked out Saki and attacked a civilian, and to make it worse, it was a ten year old boy! Apparently, Hana nee-chan thought that a random civilian had done something with him and had taken his puppy as a trophy.

"No it is not! not only does this step on my morality, it's pretty freaking illegal for shinobis to attack civilians!"

"But I'm gonna be a ninja soon!" Naruto countered.

"But are you a ninja as of?" Hana argued back.

"No…" came the sullen voice of Naruto.

"You know what?! Since I did all of that, I'll give you your dog supplies for free! How does that sound?" Hana offered with a grin.

"Wow! Really nee-chan?!" the boy excitedly asked.

"Yeah but don't tell my kaa-san, she wouldn't be too happy about what happened today, y'know?"

"Oh yeah! I completely understand- wait before anything, can you give Saki-chan some treats, to uh, stop the growling and all…" Naruto trailed off while looking at his growling pup; Saki-chan still seemed to be bitter about Hana knocking her out.

"Oh! Sure, I'll get this really popular and nutritious one!" Hana went to the back and rummaged through the premium packages that were of the highest value containing various dog related items.

Eventually, the daughter of the Inuzuka head came back and came with a moderately sized bag of dog treats.

Still, Saki-chan growled and her fur bristled at the sight of the eldest daughter. Naruto walked over and petted her soothingly, "Saki-chan, it was an accident! It just shows she cared for you ne?"

Hana smirked, she'd like to see the dog be angry at her after these scrumptious delectable she's about to feed her. With the same smirk on her face, Hana opened a bag and brought out a thin piece of jerky.

Immediately, a suspicious glare was aimed toward the delicious smelling treat from the Tibetan Mastiff pup **(A/N: Tibetan Mastiff is the dog breed.)**. Saki looked at her blonde companion with questioning eyes. Naruto gave an encouraging smile and scooted her forward. The canine crawled forward with narrowed eyes never leaving the face of the still smiling Hana.

With speed that would even impress Maito Gai, Saki dashed forward and back with the treat in between her mouth and a haughty expression adorning her face. Naruto and Hana chuckled while Naruto's puppy devoured the treat ravenously.

Instantly, said puppy was sitting on her haunches in front of Hana expectantly. Naruto gave another chuckle while Hana's face turned a bit smug, "See Naruto? Dogs can never resist a treat like this," she said while giving Saki another piece.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah, whatever. Can we get to shopping now?"

* * *

 **X**

* * *

A man with waist-length, spiky white hair that was tied back into a pony tail, with two shoulder-length bangs framing his face speedily walked towards the hokage tower. His attire consisted of a green short shirt kimono and matching pants, under which he wore mesh armor that was visible at his wrists and ankles. He also wore hand guards, a black belt, traditional Japanese wooden sandals, and a red haori with two yellow circles on each side and he wore a horned hitai-ate that had the kanji sign "油 (oil)".

This man was known as Jiraiya of the Densetsu no Sannin (The Legendary three ninjas). The Sannin had recently been in touch with Itachi; an agent that was now covertly working for his spy network.

He had received word that the new organization known as Akatsuki was making a move that could be a catalyst for another war. The Gama Sennin (frog sage) jumped up and opened the window.

The Sandaime Hokage frowned upon seeing the serious visage of his student before removing the tobacco pipe from his mouth, "Jiraiya, what are you doing here?"

"Sensei, we need to talk."

Sarutobi Hiruzen rolled his eyes, "Obviously that seems to be the case but what I was asking was: What exactly are you here to talk about? Now if it's about your new book, i told you i wanted to be surprised-"

"Itachi Uchiha and Orochimaru."

Suddenly all business, Hiruzen straightened up with a serious expression; this was bound to be trouble.

"Explain."

* * *

 **X**

* * *

After Hana bought Naruto his various dog supplies, the blonde decided to go home. After all, it had been quite the busy day. As soon as he reached his house, he undid the **Henge** he was disguised under and let Saki-chan into the house.

"Welcome to your new house Saki-chan!"

Naruto watched on with fondness as the puppy barked once with happiness before scurrying with excitement.

Almost instantly, a sense of foreboding came upon Naruto. Rapidly looking at everything that could possibly cause such feeling, his gaze finally fell upon an innocent looking puppy.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and spoke in a low voice, "Saki-chan…"

The puppy tilted her head back and forth in almost a _smug_ fashion.

Naruto crept towards his puppy speaking with the same low voice, "Saki-chan… whatever you do… _don't_."

Just before Naruto was about to make a grab for her, he froze. Sweat started dripping down his forehead as he saw Saki lift one of her hind legs.

"What the fuc-" Naruto quickly cut himself off as Saki seemed to have furrowed her eyebrows as if she knew he was cursing, "I-I mean, Saki-chan… let's just go back outside ne? wouldn't that be so much better?" Naruto nervously spoke.

' _Since when did female dogs piss with a leg up anyways? I thought it was only the male-'_

 _ **Psssssssssss.**_

"SAKI-CHAN NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Fifteen minutes later, the blonde jinchuuriki found himself vigorously scrubbing at the floors in an attempt to erase the scent of hot urine. The boy stared suspiciously at his Tibetan Mastiff as she curiously sniffed at various corners of the room.

"Saki-chan! Hana-neechan just gave us pee pads! Couldn't you wait several seconds?! Jeez…"

The puppy let a tongue loll out as she tilted her head back and forth that suggested mirthful teasing.

Naruto shook his head and continued to scrub the carpet.

"And they said ninkens were better- wait," Naruto sniffed, "What the hell is that smell?!"

The blue eyed child quickly found the source of his curiosity... and one word went through his mind.

Shit.

Pun intended.

* * *

 **X**

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 **A/N: Shortest chapter so far at 6.8k. Sorry, majority was filler and building relationships but i really want the dog to grow on you guys! Also, there was a little hint as to what was gonna come! Please don't forget to drop a review about who you want in the harem!  
**

 **Votes will only be counted via reviews!**

 **Current poll votes via reviews:**

 **Anko: 5  
**

 **Ino: 4  
**

 **Kurenai: 4  
**

 **Tayuya: 3**

 **Yugito: 1**

 **Temari: 1**

 **Mei: 1**

 **P.S. If you haven't already, I implore you to check out the link I put (Profile) for the dog breed. That is what Naruto's dog would look like fully grown and it is the very definition of bad-assery!  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry for the late upload! My next upload will also be late because of summer quarter and I poured all my time to clearing up assignments, quizzes, and tests for the majority of the months because I'll also be in Mexico for the majority of late July and August to celebrate my cousin's wedding!**

 **In addition to this, I've been working on other fics as well! In fact, I've posted a Naruto X Fairy Tail crossover! Please do check it out! **

**Poll for the Harem is on the bottom!**

 **To the reviewers:**

 **Biginferno: Oh definitely! Gotta love the NarxIno pairing!**

 **WhatzzzzzzzzzzzUP: I feel you and I honestly appreciate that. Truth be told, it sort of was an Omake because I was trying to build up relationship but I'm not too good at that! I'll work on it for sure! Things get a bit more deeper from here. At least, that's what I hope! Please do review again! I appreciate your constructive criticism!**

 **Sanguis sylvus: Yeah, big harem dilutes the story, I completely agree. I will be keeping it to 4-5.**

 **IsolatedCookie: LOL I sort of had that song playing when I got the idea!**

 **Landmoverman: Thank you for your review! It gave me some ideas!**

 **Jackalope33: Oh sure! I found it on the web so it's up for grabs I suppose! Isn't mine to give away but make sure you do give credit!**

 **Aramus13: I always appreciate your reviews!**

 **Even if I didn't respond to your review! I thank you!**

* * *

"Speech"

' _thought'_

" **Jutsu: in use** **"**

' _ **Kyuubi/Summon thought'**_

" **Kyuubi/Summon speech"**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but this fanfic! All rights go to their respective owners!**

* * *

 **Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself**

 **Chapter 5: Changes.**

* * *

 **X**

* * *

"Kami, this is _not_ good Jiraiya." Sarutobi Hiruzen murmured as he interlocked his fingers with his elbows resting on the aged desk that had been present since the reign of the first hokage.

The toad sage nodded in agreement, "I know… Not only that, but we have a week at best. In the worst case scenario, we have a few days. Itachi was only able to contact and warn me a few days ago..."

The Sandaime frowned, "They are moving faster than I would have thought for an organization that just recently appeared on the radar."

"Agreed, but that that doesn't mean they weren't preparing beforehand for their 'coming out' party onto said 'radar'." Jiraiya pointed out.

"True."

"So…?" Jiraiya gazed at his sensei intently, "What's our plan? I've been thinking about it constantly while I was on my way here and I couldn't think of a way for this to blow over smoothly without exposing Itachi as our spy and keeping the gaki safe."

Sarutobi inhaled a long drag from his pipe before exhaling.

"On a side note, you should stop smoking; it's incredibly bad for your lungs you know." Jiraiya noted with a slightly amused expression.

The Sandaime barely responded with a grunt before speaking, "This is indeed a dangerous situation we're playing in…"

An idea suddenly popping into Jiraiya's head, the toad sage spoke with hope, "Perhaps we bring a Nara into this conversation? Shikaku can be trusted, right?"

Sarutobi shook his head, "The less people that know, the better. Only you and I will be aware of this situation… perhaps with the addition of one more."

"Who?"

"Kakashi Hatake."

Jiraiya frowned, "I understand that he's trustworthy but what's different from bringing him into the conversation? I believe that Shikaku would offer more to the table. Shikaku is a Nara and he could come up with a more safer and reliable-"

"Ah, that is because you're under the impression that Kakashi would be contributing ideas to the plan- no my dear wayward student, that is not the case." Sarutobi grinned.

Jiraiya's frown deepened as his brows furrowed in confusion, "Then what is the purpose of Kakashi being brought in?"

"He _is_ the plan. Now tell me, what do you think of this plan…"

Jiraiya leaned his large frame forward and paid rapt attention to his sensei's words. His eyes widened at every passing word that exited the sandaime's mouth.

"That… that could just work! Knocking out two birds with one stone I suppose." Jiraiya muttered to himself before gazing back at his aged teacher, "But… that idea, it isn't without its risks. It could affect the gaki more than you know. _Especially_ because of the fact we don't know if Itachi _can_ go through with it. Even if he _does_ go through with it, we don't know _how_ he would proceed about this-"

"Naruto has an amazing power of will and the will of fire burns brightly within him, He will be fine." Hiruzen interrupted his student.

"I don't doubt that but he isn't an adult! He's just a child; he doesn't have the experience of a hardened shinobi! Hell, even a hardened shinobi would have a difficult time with this!" Jiraiya argued back.

"That may be, but he's been through more than ninety-nine percent of Konoha, he will be able to handle this. Of this, I am positive." Sarutobi replied with no waver or hesitance.

"Mark my words sensei, this will affect him. For better or for worse we'll see in time… just ask yourself this: will it be worth it?"

Sarutobi sighed and looked up in contemplation. This was a pretty big gamble. He looked at his longtime friend and student, "Go, inform Itachi immediately. I'll tell Kakashi what's to happen."

Jiraiya grumbled about senile old men losing their minds before reluctantly exiting the office for his assigned task.

Like many times before, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up to the skies and pondered.

' _Ancestors of the Great Leaf, am I doing the right thing?'_

* * *

 **x**

* * *

Naruto frowned as he sat cross-legged with Saki-chan in his lap while his hand absentmindedly petted her head. In front of him was his Taijutsu teacher of nearly half a year now. However, there was no training to be done today. In fact, there seemed to be a change of plans, permanently.

Next to his Taijutsu instructor was a man with who had spiky silver hair oriented to his left-side, dark grey eyes. The man seemed to be in a pleasantly relaxed state; if his weird smiling eye and heavy-lidded expression was anything to go by. Along with the gravity defying hair was a face mask that covered the majority of his face, the man had only one eye visible seeing as to how his hitai-ate was slanted to cover the other viewing orbital.

Naruto gazed at the silver-haired man impassively as the cycloptic shinobi returned his gaze with a happy 'U' shaped eye smile. It was weird, but it was the only way the blonde could describe it. The blue-eyed boy shifted his attention to Gai when the Taijutsu specialist cleared his throat.

"So… my dear youthful student, how is your day today?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes with suspicion when he noted that Gai-sensei spoke with a nervous tint in his tone.

"It's going fine sensei."

"Aha! Most splendid my youthful student-"

"Sensei, who is this guy next to you? Why is he here?" Naruto interrupted blatantly. No sense of beating around the bush, he had several theories as to why the silver haired cycloptic jounin was here.

Kakashi decided to opt in the conversation to answer instead of his exuberant comrade, "Yo! My Name is Kakashi Hatake and I'll be taking over as your sensei starting from today."

Naruto's response came without hesitation.

"No."

Gai sighed, he knew that Naruto wouldn't ease into this situation smoothly. Once he grew attached to something or someone, he was hard-pressed into letting any change into his life that involved his precious 'attachments', so to speak. To be honest, Gai didn't want to hand have over his gritty and determined student but the hokage ordered otherwise.

Gai frowned, it was strange though; initially, the plan was to have Kakashi become the main instructor while he himself became more of a side teacher. In addition to that, this plan wasn't to be effective until the summer, which was several months away.

So that begged the question: Why did the hokage abruptly push the plans forward?

Gai shook his head, he would trust in his village leader's decision. Getting back to reality, the man clad in green saw Naruto scowling at him and Kakashi. His silver-haired comrade in the meantime looked bored and happy at the same time.

Weird.

Hoping that he could diffuse the tension slightly, Gai walked over to the blonde and squatted down to eye-level. "Ah my dear youthful student-"

"Hmph!" Naruto scowled, "Like you can call me that anymore! If I heard correctly, and I know I did, you just got rid of me like trash!" Naruto shouted. Saki barked in agreement; she didn't really know what was going on but if her blonde owned was upset at people… then she too would be upset at people.

Gai suddenly started crying out waterfalls as Naruto folded his arms across his chest defiantly, his little over dramatic act will take no effect on him.

Nope, not today.

"My student! I have failed you! Just know this, I never wanted this! Blame the silver haired man!" Gai wailed as he pointed a furious finger at Kakashi.

"Then why would you let him take me-" he briefly looked at the silver haired man now identified as Kakashi, "-I'm still not training with you-" before turning back to Gai, "If you really didn't want to, you could prevent it! Actually you know what?! I'll talk to jiji right freaking now!"

Kakashi decided now was the time to interject.

"Do you _even_ wish to be a shinobi?" drawled out Kakashi in a bored fashion.

Naruto turned a glare to the silver haired man, "Why does it matter to yo-"

"I _repeat_ , do you wish to be a shinobi?" Kakashi asked again, only this time his tone of voice that of a stern one.

The whiskered boy maintained the same glare as he answered, "Of course I want to be a shinobi, why else would I stay in the academy?" the blond child scoffed before continuing in a rather scathing tone, "You think I go to a _shinobi_ academy because I like being bullied and ignored by the teachers-"

Kakashi internally winced, but he had to straighten Naruto out now, "Then listen boy; you _will_ be training underneath my tutelage. This is on direct orders from the hokage himself. If you truly and seriously aspire to be a shinobi, you don't question the leader of your village, understand?"

Naruto gritted his teeth; he knew the man was right but that didn't mean he had to like it. The blue-eyed jinchuuriki stood up, "Whatever." But as he went to stand, he had briefly caught a glimpse of his Taijutsu instructor's face to see that it was eerily impassive with a hint of disappointment… at _him_.

' _Why the hell does he disappointed in ME?!'_ Naruto seethed internally as he walked away with Saki-chan trailing loyally behind him. His gaze softened as he looked back at his puppy looking at him with eagerness.

He picked her up and nuzzled against her affectionately, "Well Saki-chan, look likes it's you and me for now." As he neared the exit of the training ground he been asked to meet his sensei in, he **henge'd** into a familiar woman who was dressed in all black for what seemed to be a funeral or mourning service.

He needed to vent to someone and he didn't feel like talking to anyone who could reprimand him. He walked the path that he's seen Sakura-chan and Ino-chan take many time before.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Ino blew out a bored breath as she manned the register while her parents were on lunch. She swung her legs aimlessly as she spun slowly upon the rotating seat of the stool. She was humming a light tune when she heard the doorbell ring; signifying a person had just opened the door.

"Hi! Welcome to Yamanaka Flower shop! The stop you can get everything flower related to-" Ino suddenly gasped; In the midst of her routine greeting, she had finally identified the person and realized it was someone who was familiar with her late sensei, "Yui-sensei?!"

Yui looked startled, as if she wasn't expecting anyone to recognize her. Yui quickly schooled her features and returned a small sad smile, "Hello Ino-chan, how've you been?"

The ten-year old Yamanaka heiress suddenly let loose every detail of her life for the past two weeks and how lame the academy's new teachers were. Ino didn't even register the slight wince of the elder female occupant of her family store at the mention of the academy teachers; after all, she hasn't seen Yui-sensei since… well, her other sensei's death and Yui-sensei was a well-loved teacher at the academy. It was only natural for a natural gossip girl like Ino to blabber incessantly about random things carelessly... after all, she was a just a ten year old girl.

Although she was only ten, even she wasn't insensitive to a person's feeling. She realized that several minutes into her nonstop chatter, she had mentioned Iruka-sensei proxy the topic of the academy. She quickly ceased her words and began sputtering out an apology in a panicked fashion. It was widely known that Yui-sensei and Iruka-sensei had been close… intimately.

"O-oh my kami! I'm _so_ sorry sensei! I-I-I di-didn't mean t-to! G-gomenasai Yui-sensei!" Ino frantically rushed out.

"Ino-chan, it's okay! Actually, I was on my way to see Iruka-sensei now-"

 _ **SLAAAAM!**_

Ino screamed as someone shoved Yui violently into the ground. The figure then headed towards her and hovered around her form protectively. Ino's terrified scream shifted into a relieved sigh before she angrily pushed the person who shoveled her academy teacher.

"Daddy! Why did you push Yui-sensei!" Ino interrogated as she headed over to her teacher.

"Ino! Stop, be quiet and get back here!" Inoichi spoke with in a tone that resonated authority as he narrowed his eyes at the form of 'Yui' picking 'herself' up.

"Daddy… what's wrong!?" The clan heiress froze in place as she heard the tone of voice of her father.

Instead of answering her, the Yamanaka clan head pierced the woman in front of him with a glare, "Who are you!?" Inoichi interrogated.

'Yui' dusted 'herself' off and spoke in a calm voice, "What are you talking about? Your daughter knows who I am, isn't that right Ino-chan?"

Before his daughter could nod in affirmation, Inoichi spoke in a hard voice, "Do not play games with me! Yui Hadoka left the village weeks ago after the death of one Umino Ir-" Wouldn't be good to reveal the death of a Konoha shinobi, "-certain circumstances!"

Shock displaying on both 'Yui's' and Ino's face, Inoichi decided to take their stunned moment to activate his clan jutsu. Placing his hand in his signature clan hand sign, he held it up and aimed at a slightly bewildered

" **Shintenshin No Jutsu (Mind Transfer Jutsu)!"**

Inoichi smirked, _'jutsu success.'_ He briefly thought as his conscious was pulled towards the pseudo-Yui.

Ino groaned as she rushed forward to try and somewhat successfully support her father's falling form.

"YOU BETTER HURRY UP DADDY!"

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Inoichi groaned, usually the process of entering someone's mind was a fluid and smooth transition but going into this now known obvious imposter was all but that. The reason the Yamanka clan head knew this was an imposter was because Inoichi had interviewed quite a number of shinobis via his family jutsu and Yui Hadoka was one of the shinobi that had fallen under his routine checks.

The Yamanaka clan leader managed to gather enough of his bearings to finally note his environment.

 _ **Drip.**_

Inoichi frowned as he felt a drop of liquid splat against his cheek. The long-haired pale blonde man cautiously moved forward at a sedate pace; after all, a mind could be the single most dangerous tool a person could possess… and from the looks of it, this mind felt ominous and oppressive.

This was most definitely not a normal mind.

 _ **Drip.**_

As a Konoha shinobi and an ex-T&I (Torture and interrogation) head, he had a duty to find out if this imposter could or would pose a danger to Konoha as a whole. So with great caution, Inoichi pressed forward.

 _ **Drip.**_

Nearly half an hour of walking around, Inoichi began theorizing a suspicion about his whereabouts. He had heard that jinchuurikis had a crazy mindscape and that normal applications of mind and body invasive jutsus would not work and wasn't advised to be used against demon containers.

Feeling a bit worried now, Inoichi was thinking about cutting his losses and exiting. After a few moments, the clan leader believed this to be mindscape of their own jinchuuriki, one Naru-

" **Welcome ningen."**

Inoichi paled.

He turned around from where he came from with great trepidation; he was sure that's where the seemingly ancient voice came from but how could that be? He had just came from that direction-

The deep and menacing voice chuckled, **"Silly ningen, if I do not wish to be found, I** _ **will**_ **not be found."**

The clan leader of the Yamanakas found himself sweating as his gaze fell upon a giant barred cell. Behind the colossal metal barring glowed two giant murderous red eyes.

The elder blonde stepped back fearfully as the **KI (Killer intent)** rolled off the being inside the bar in droves.

"Please, I do not wish for any trouble-"

" **Quiet ningen!"** the ancient entity snarled, **"You had acquired trouble the moment you used your blasphemous technique!"**

Inoichi found himself unable to talk as the **KI** intensified exponentially.

Stepping out of the shadows, the owner of the powerful and feral voice revealed itself to be what Inoichi feared to be.

The infamous Kyuubi No Kitsune.

" **I grow bored of you ningen. Leave or I shall do what I did to your ancestors when they foolishly interacted with my presence."** The Kyuubi spoke in a lazy fashion.

Inoichi ignored the jab at his ancestors and nodded immediately. The clan leader went to leave before he paused… he realized he had no idea on how to get out. If he knew how to get out, he would have gotten out sooner when he had an inkling as to what he had gotten himself into.

He turned to ask the malevolent chakra entity only to flinch violently as the Kyuubi roared with loudness that rivaled a crowd of a trillion. The furious roar propelled him out of the mindscape abruptly.

The Kyuubi smirked viciously.

" **Soon… the nations will be reminded of the prowess and presence of the greatest of tailed beasts."**

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Inoichi sat upright abruptly and gasped as he woke up in his own body. He immediately patted himself in a reassuring manner hoping that nothing was out of place or anything of that sort. He looked around for his daughter and saw that she was now tending to a young blonde boy and he narrowed his eyes.

Uzumaki Naruto.

The aforementioned child groaned as he regained consciousness, "Ughhh, where the hell am I and who the hell are yo- Ino-chan?!" Naruto nearly yelped as he realized his head was in Ino's lap. "Oh jeez! I'm sorry Ino! I didn't even know what happened! One moment I'm buying flowers and the next thing I know is that I'm waking up with my head in your lap!" Naruto blabbered speedily in fear of getting hit.

"Naruto! It's fine!" Ino giggled, "Besides, you look cute when you sleep!"

Naruto's face burned as he sputtered his response, "O-O-Oh! U-uhm, thank you! I uh, also think, y-y'know, t-that you're um, u-uh, also-"

Inoichi decided to intervene now. Demon container or not, no one was gonna be going to be putting the moves on his daughter if he could help it.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto's attention shifted straightaway from the heiress of the Yamanaka clan to the leader of said clan. His eyes widened as he realized he wasn't in his **Henge** of Yui-chan. A barely visible tremble only noticed by Inoichi indicated that he was in a slight state of fear. Naruto's azure eyes fearfully darted around as he tried to pinpoint a way to avoid this situation.

Inoichi's gaze softened at the sight of an obviously scared boy that was thrown into a situation that wasn't his fault. He sighed, "Naruto-san, may I ask you why you were **Henge'd** into another person? Impersonation is a crime that can be punished harshly by authority."

Ino looked fear stricken as she let out a startled cry, "Daddy! You can't get Naruto in trouble-"

Inoichi gave his daughter a stern look and spoke in a voice that left no room for argument, "Ino-chan, to your room, _now_."

The clan heiress gave Naruto a sympathetic and apologetic look, "I'm sorry Naruto… I'll make this up to you later!" With a slight glare directed at her father, Ino flipped her hair and let out a slightly haughty "Hmph!" before obeying his order and heading out the back door of the shop.

Naruto didn't even register her words as his slight tremble became more obvious. Was Ino's dad going to hurt him now that Ino was gone? So caught up in his fear, he didn't even think to use any jutsus to escape his predicament.

He just… froze.

Naruto felt the frustration of being helpless build up as his chest shuddered more heavily.

"It's okay Naruto-san, I do not wish to hurt you. I would just like to know why you impersonated a fellow Konoha resident." Inoichi spoke with a soft gaze and voice to try and get his honest intent across: to show that the boy was not in danger.

Inoichi's attempt at reassurance seemed to have worked since the boy's tense and frightened state subdued into a relaxed state. Inoichi offered a small smile, "Would you like some food Naruto?" He purposefully addressed him by his first name only. This served to establish a familiarity that would hopefully lull the boy into a more trustful state.

"N-N-No T-thank you I-Inoichi-sama!" Naruto managed to squeak out.

Inoichi couldn't help but chuckle at the politeness the blonde child showed under the duress of what the scared child considered to be a 'predicament.' "No need to address me so formally here Naruto-san. In the home of our compound shop it will always be safe."

Naruto chose to respond with a small nod before a small frown made its way onto his face. An internal conflict began as curiosity and his natural instinct to survive clashed. Should he run for it? Should he stay? His inner struggle must have showed on his face seeing that Inoichi gestured for him to sit on the stool.

"I promise on the namesake of my clan that I will not hurt or harm you… I also know that curiosity is an annoying thing so you may ask your question… if you choose to, that is."

Naruto slowly walked over to the gestured stool facing Inoichi the whole time. Once fully situated on the stool, Naruto played with his hands idly as he averted his gaze.

He spoke in a small and quiet voice, "Y-you have… a-a compound behind your shop?"

Inoichi face faulted.

Out of all the things he should've and could've asked, he asks _that_ question? Inoichi snorted with amusement and made an even louder snort at the affronted look the boy took at his first snort.

"What?! It's a good question! A compound behind this tiny shop, how is that even possible?!" Naruto defended.

Inoichi let out a good-natured laugh before answering the little whiskered boy's question, "I never said that our compound was behind this shop." Seeing that the boy was about argue, he held a hand up and asked, "Do you recall what I said?"

"You said this is the compound shop so that means the Yamanaka compound is behind it! And that makes sense since Ino-chan went out the back!"

Inoichi held an amused smile, "While I indeed said that this is the compound shop, this by no means mean that the compound is behind it. In fact, many compounds have shops like the Akimichis and their restaurants, The Naras and their pharmaceutical shops, the Aburames and their…" Inoichi blinked. "Actually… I don't recall what they actually sell." Inoichi gave a sheepish grin.

Naruto found himself easing down as he was steadily drawn into the conversation. So much, in fact, when Inoichi asked him why he impersonated Yui-san, Naruto answered in full with all details. Including the events that had led up to his **henge** of Yui-sensei, whom Naruto knew was close to Iruka-sensei.

After all, the man was like a father to him.

Inoichi nodded throughout the boy's tale and felt sympathy towards his plight. No human being should ever be shunned and forced to undergo a **Henge** just buy minor things.

"Naruto, is it really so bad to have a new sensei?" Inoichi asked dryly.

"Change is bad!" Naruto immediately barked.

Inoichi sweat dropped, "Listen, I know of Kakashi Hatake and met with him a couple times, and though I don't know him all that well, I know that he is a good and honest man."

"How do you know if he's a good man if you don't know him all that well?"

"Ah… you don't seem too knowledgeable about the clans and their specialty, do you?"

Naruto frowned, "I'm only ten years old!"

"Regardless, you should learn about things like this in class."

Naruto suddenly felt himself becoming miserably smaller as he re-averted his gaze downwards. He whispered in a barely audible whisper, "I-I have no one but Gai-sensei to teach me anything… I-Iruka-sensei was the last one to teach me anything at the academy… but he-"

Inoichi held a hand up, "I understand Naruto, no need to explain anything." The Yamanaka clan leader took many deep calming breaths as he tried controlling the rage that was slowly festering from within. If that was his child, he doesn't know what he would've done to the people in the state of rage he surely would've been in.

He made a decision.

"Alright Naruto-kun, I've made a decision. If you so choose to, you may come here and I will teach you about various things that will be important to you if you want to become a serious shinobi. However, and unfortunately, I am a busy clan head so it most likely would not be a daily thing… but I'm sure we'll work something out."

Inoichi expected Naruto's eyes to be full of excitement and color but when the whiskered child looked up, all he saw was a dull vibe and a fragile sense helplessness in the once vibrant azure eyes.

"Why… why would you do that for me… no one ever does anything that kind of thing for me…"

Inoichi gave the boy a resounding, "Then allow me to be one of the rare few. However, I will not force this choice upon you so you may take as long as you want."

Naruto's vacant expression gazing back was the only answer Inoichi received. The clan head sighed as he went to retrieve some flowers, "Here boy, you may leave with these flowers, come back anytime you want to."

The jinchuuriki hesitated for a few moments before finally relenting.

"Arigato."

Naruto took the flowers and left with a lot on his mind.

Inoichi on the other hand, decided to have a chat with his daughter. He was going to drill into her the fact that their family jutsu was to ever be used on another Konoha's citizen unless directed by authorities.

Even then it was an iffy matter.

Regardless, she was to never use the family jutsu on a certain blonde jinchuuriki.

Ever.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

So caught up in his thinking, Naruto didn't think to cover himself in his **henge** as he continued his trek towards his intended destination.

Various villagers looked at him with disgust in their eyes. Why would the demon brat be carrying flowers?

So caught up in their musings as to why the 'demon' had flowers, they failed to notice the small canine that was tucked into the jumpsuit of said 'demon'. The citizens of Konoha that were staring at him slowly grew angrier and angrier with each passing second.

The Kyuubi brat seemed indifferent to their obvious disgust of him. In fact, he looked like he was completely occupied with some other thought.

All of the spiteful villagers' minds ran along one similar thought process.

' _How dare that brat ignore us… this won't be stood for.'_

With an angered and knowing look, the villagers shared a glance and nodded. They would fix this issue on their own. If the shinobis of the village wouldn't finish what their precious Yondaime started, they the villagers, will.

Naruto, so consumed by his thoughts, failed to see an incoming pair of ladies.

"I'm serious Nai-chan! If I could eat dango for the rest of my life in exchange for-"

 _ **THUD!**_

Thinking he was under an **henge** like he should've been, the whiskered boy glared angrily at the person who he had bumped into.

"Hey! What's the big idea lady?! Watch where you're going!" Naruto yelled as he dusted himself off. He checked to see how Saki-chan was doing and saw that she still seemed to be sleeping. An unbelievable eye twitch briefly appeared on his face, _'This girl can sleep through all three shinobi wars…'_

"Eh? Aren't you the Uzumaki brat?" Anko peered at him closely.

Naruto paled, "How did you know!?"

Anko pulled a mirror out of nowhere and held in front of the boy's face, "Blonde hair, blue eyes, and whiskered cheeks… looks like the only Uzumaki brat I've heard of."

Naruto swore under his breath as he turned to make a run for it but before he could take a single step, he found himself locked in place by two slender arms. Immediately, an odd scent of nature mixed with a feminine trait pleasantly assaulted his nose. He felt an indescribable heat rush up to his face as he felt two mounds of flesh press up against his small back.

Why was he feeling such a weird sensation?

"And where do you think you're going?" Anko whispered in a sensual tone.

Naruto shivered.

Kurenai face palmed before she scolded her best friend, "Anko, he's like eight years old, quit it!"

Naruto was quick to argue, "Hey other lady! I'm _ten_! And you grandmas must be a billion years old since you guys obviously can't tell I'm older than an eight year old!" He held up all his fingers and shoved it towards lady who wasn't holding him, "Ten! I'm ten years old you old bats!"

Anko had a stupefied expression on while Kurenai simply quirked an eyebrow. The Snake Mistress of Konoha snapped out of her stupor with an irritated expression, "WE'RE SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD YOU STUPID LITTLE PIECE OF-"

"Anko! Language! He's only ten years old!"

Naruto gave the red-eyed jounin a thumbs up, "Thank you nee-chan! I'm glad you're nice, unlike _some_ people." He gave a not so subtle glare towards the purple haired kunoichi.

Kurenai managed to stifle her giggle lest she piss off easily ticked off best friend even more than she already was. She was quick to restrain Anko as her purple-haired best friend tried demolishing the blonde child.

Said blonde child took this time to observe the kunoichis in front of him. As he took in every detail of their body, he realized that the nee-chans were both really pretty.

Anko, calming down somewhat, noticed that the jinchuuriki was staring at them, she turned her smirking face towards Kurenai, "Look! He's staring at us! He's a little pervert!"

Naruto was brought out of his reverie when he heard those words. Feeling an embarrassed blush creeping up his face at being caught on blatantly staring at their body even if it was unintentional. Spluttering, the boy spoke in an extremely defensive tone, "N-N-No way! I would never- I don't like grandmas you stupids!"

Anko and Kurenai shared a look before one giggled behind her hand while the other laughed boisterously. Anko looked at the pouting boy's face, "Say gaki, what were you eve-"

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki dattebayo!" Naruto boldly interrupted. He felt rather comfortable with the two nee-chans in front of him seeing that he felt no killer intent from them. There was also something different about them… if his ten year old mind had to put words to it… it was as if they were outcasts in a way. Regardless, they seemed like nice enough people.

Then again, Mizuki hid his intent well enough… and these kunoichis felt stronger than the white haired teme if their chakra 'tank' was anything to go by. So… maybe he should keep his guard up just in case.

Offhandedly, he briefly wondered how he knew how much chakra they had before shoving that thought to the back of his mind.

The purple haired one brought out a kunai and licked it in a seductive manner.

Yep, he was definitely keeping his guard up.

Anko gave Naruto a lecherous grin, "I'm the sexy and single Mitarashi Anko… how do you do…" she gave her kunai another lick and her lecherous grin grew even wider when the boy shivered, " _Na-ru-to-kun."_ She made sure to punctuate each syllable with a flirtatious tone.

Kurenai shook her head in amusement with a tiny exasperated sigh, "My name is Yuuhi Kurenai. It is also a pleasure to meet you Naruto- _kun_." She couldn't help but add her own little seductive enunciation to the familiar suffix.

Needless to say, Naruto was one flustered jinchuuriki. He tried speaking back casually but found himself as a stuttering mess, "O-O-Oh! N-nice to meet y-you A-Anko-san and K-Kurenai-san!"

Kurenai found herself enjoying the situation. She was known as the 'Young Ice Queen of Konoha' because she never enjoyed any form of conversation with men. Yet here she was, talking with a boy and enjoying the tiny banter with her best friend.

After several minutes of teasing the flustering boy, Anko voiced a question when she finally noticed the flowers in his hands, "What's the flower for gaki?"

Kurenai was not known as the genjutsu mistress for nothing. Considered a prodigy in her own rights, she had to develop a keen eyesight. So, because of this trained ability, she did not fail to notice the subtle change of nervousness in the blue eyed blonde; one from embarrassment from not knowing how to react to this foreign situation to one of a guarded nervousness. His tone of voice and speech made it all the more obvious.

"O-Oh. Y-you know, j-just for a friend…" Naruto subconsciously brought the bouquet of flowers around his back so the front of his body was blocking it. Anko, being one of the accomplished head interrogators at the T&I and an accomplished kunoichi, noticed the subtle gesture and tilted her head.

Was the boy scared if them? She looked at her best friend and they briefly shared a knowing look unnoticed by the boy. Feigning pretense, Anko spoke loudly, "Ah well! Look at the time! I forgot I had something to do at this specific time and Kurenai-chan here was supposed to help me! Let's go Nai-chan!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes in suspicion before letting it go. What they were gonna do was none of his business. He nodded and gave a polite bow, "See you around Kurenai-san, Anko-san." They gave a cheerful goodbye and then **Shunshined** out of view.

Deciding that he wasted enough time already, he began a full-blown sprint towards the Heroes Monument; a monolith constructed for all those who had died in battle for the village. He didn't mind talking to those kunoichis but he needed to vent and this was most confortable way for him.

Unbeknownst to the child jinchuuriki, a pair of kunoichis were watching him from out of sight.

Kurenai spoke first, "Seems as if he's heading towards the monuments."

Anko agreed. "Seems like it… let's follow him Nai-chan!"

The genjutsu mistress frowned, "Even though he is a child, privacy is a right everyone should be able to enjoy Anko-chan."

The tokubetsu jounin rolled her eyes, "Whatever, I'm going anyways. Come if you want to!" she blew a tongue at her best friend before trailing the blonde from a distance.

Kurenai sighed and went after both her best friend and the blonde jinchuuriki somewhat grudgingly with a tiny bit of curiosity motivating her to follow. Even she wasn't immune to curiosity.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

It was sunset when he finally reached the site that was dedicated to the fallen shinobis. He kneeled down in front of the monument that held Iruka's name and prayed for him briefly before standing up and dusting himself off. He walked slowly towards the edge of the forest before walking through the thin tree lines. He walked carefully for ten minutes avoiding thorns and other irritable greenery before finally coming to a clearing.

In the middle of the clearing was a makeshift grave that Naruto had hand made with what he could find in the forestry in and around Konoha. It was as good as it was going to get for a ten year old.

There was a crudely crafted wooden cross-shaped stake stuck into the ground that was about a foot tall. In the middle of the cross dangled his deceased sensei's headband. The cloth was somewhat loosely tied on the horizontal inner-edge of the cross to keep it from falling.

Naruto set the flowers down next to him as he sat in a cross-legged position. The blonde pouted as he began talking to his sensei. He began with the infuriating event that involved Gai and Kakashi that made him come this way. He then recalled the experience the incident with Inoichi.

"So get this Iruka-sensei, after I get knocked out somehow, I wake up on Ino-chan's lap. Crazy right? But get this, that's even the craziest part! So I saw Inoichi and, be prepared, he _wants_ to teach me!" Naruto frowned, "But I don't know sensei… should i?"

"Every time I trust someone, they always end up hurting me. I don't know if I can handle another betrayal…" Naruto lied down in defeat with a sigh.

 _ **Whooosh!**_

Naruto shot up at the weird sound that was similar to a loud brush of wind. He looked around and saw something that should've been impossible.

"H-H-How?" the boy whispered hoarsely.

There, in front of his shocked eyes, was one very much alive Umino Iruka.

An eye-crinkling smile appeared on the face of Iruka.

"Is that how anyone greets their favorite sensei Naruto!?"

Naruto's vision blurred with tears as he rushed to engulf the man in a hug. Wrapping his arms around his sensei as he apologized over and over again, "I'm so sorry sensei! I'm sorry! If only I wasn't such an idiot!"

'Iruka' held the boy back at arm's length, and looked at him seriously, "Naruto, never ever do I want you to apologize for that. I did what I thought was right and I never want you to think that what happened was your fault, understood?!"

Naruto wiped at his tears and sniffled, "But Iruka-sensei! If I didn't listen to Mizuki-teme then you-"

"Listen to me Naruto," 'Iruka' spoke softly, "Instead of reflecting on the past, I need you to be a stronger one for your loved ones and Konoha."

Naruto stared sullenly at his sensei, "But…I had no one else but you sensei…"

'Iruka' shook his head, "You baka Naruto! You really have no one else left in the village that you care about?"

"The last person was Itachi and he was-"

"That's not what I asked Naruto. What about the Hokage?"

The boy's answer was hesitant, "Oh… I guess I forgot about jiji-"

"What about your classmates?"

Naruto's mind briefly flashed towards Ino-chan. The boy pouted, "Fine Iruka-sensei, I guess you're right…"

The scarred chuunin nodded in a smug knowingly manner, "Of course I am! Now, tell me what's the deal with Inoichi-san?!"

After Naruto explained in depth about what had happened between himself and the clan head of the Yamanakas, Iruka held a thoughtful pose, "So you say you blacked out after he held his hand like this?" the 'chuunin' mimicked the ex-T&I's clan jutsu's hand seal. At Naruto's fervent nod, Iruka frowned, _'He used the_ _ **Shintenshin No Jutsu**_ _on him? that must've been dangerous… still, Inoichi was a pretty good guy from when I worked with him.'_

"Naruto, I think you should go ahead and follow up on his lessons! It'll be good for you… actually, you know what! As your sensei, I order you to go to him!"

Naruto frowned, "Wait, how are you even _here_?! Shouldn't you be, you know," He awkwardly gestured at the burial site he made for him, "in there?" He waved his hands around, "Wait! Before you answer that! How come there aren't any funerals service or graves for all shinobis-"

Iruka returned a sad smile, "That, is something you can ask Inoichi-san Naruto… For everything you've done for me, for giving me a family and being gone in my absence. but you're right, I do not belong here, it's time for me to return… goodbye…"

And just like that, Iruka wisped away like dust particles to a strong wind. At the disappearance of his sensei, Naruto felt his eyelids get heavy as he slowly opted to take an involuntary nap.

As soon as his eyes were closed, the air around where Iruka stood standing previously shimmered and revealed a purple haired kunoichi in a trench coat. Next to her, appeared her crimson-eyed best friend.

"I deserve an award for my acting! Right Nai-chan?!"

Kurenai leveled her with a glare, "First of all, it was my genjutsu that allowed you to play the part of Iruka-san and second of all, we're gonna be paying our respects to him. It's not kind to impersonate the dead Anko…"

Anko sighed, "I know… I was just curious and there was an opportunity that presented itself and I took it… but I agree; we should go pay our respects at the monolith."

Kurenai nodded. After her and Anko followed Naruto to the Heroes Monument, they were immensely surprised to see that Naruto had gone off into the nearby trees to a makeshift grave.

Already knowing about the boy's status as a jinchuuriki and the village's reception towards him, they knew that there were few that treated the boy with kindness and Iruka was one of them.

After the purple-haired tokubetsu jounin heard that the blonde confessing to him having a run in with Inoichi, Anko's old boss at T&I, their curiosity skyrocketed to the point where Kurenai listened to Anko's plan of wrapping her in a genjutsu of Iruka so they could pry information out the whiskered child.

It worked too well.

Anko seemed to have realized this too seeing as to how easily she agreed to paying her respects to the deceased chuunin.

She glanced back at the sleeping boy as she walked away and thought about how much of a good-natured child he was even though he was hurt mentally and physically so many times by Konoha.

A determined expression came across her face. She was going to the Sandaime to perhaps teach the boy. He most definitely needed someone he could trust and she was willing to be that person. After all, it was the least she could do since she basically broke several laws to satisfy her own curiosity.

Noticing that her purple haired friend wasn't alongside her, Kurenai looked around only to see that Anko was gazing intensely at the boy.

"Anko, are you okay?"

The young Snake Mistress of Konoha pursed her lips and answered several moments after, "Yeah… it's just I see a lot of me in him… the way they treat him…" She shook her head, "Never mind! Let's get going!" With a wide smile, Anko skipped off towards the monolith with Kurenai looking on after her.

The red-eyed jounin had a sad and knowing look.

' _Anko…'_

* * *

 **X**

* * *

He stood in front of the compound shop in his **henge** of another random civilian.

Naruto peered into the flower shop through the window nervously. It was a new day and after yesterday's talk with 'Iruka', whom Naruto knew (according to him self) wasn't real but rather a figment of his imagination due to his deep subconscious that was still emotional.

He figured it had to be something like that.

A dream or something.

Or maybe he was crazy?

Being nervous, antsy, and preoccupied with his thoughts, Naruto's **henge** slowly glitched out as the tall random-bodied illusion shrunk into the tiny blonde. He immediately made for another transformation but it came out as a blotched and pale version of himself. He looked around and saw that a few villagers were looking at him suspiciously while a couple of them snarled at him indicating they saw his real identity.

Cursing, he looked around briefly inside through the window and saw that no one was there. Deciding that maybe he should just try and come back another day, he made to run away especially since he couldn't get his **henge** to work properly. However, just as he was about to take a step away from the shop, the door swung open rather violently.

 _ **THUD!**_

"Daddy! Naruto is here!"

Naruto froze as his **henge** completely went away to reveal his true self, _'Eh?'_

He turned around with a perplexed look on his face.

"Ino-chan?"

At his words, Saki-chan's head slowly roused itself from Naruto's jumpsuit in a drowsy manner.

Ino squealed at seeing Naruto make such an adorably confused whiskered face before pausing in her thoughts. She studied Naruto's face carefully and thought to herself, _'Since when was Naruto this… this…'_ she couldn't bring herself to admit the fact that Naruto was pretty cu-

"You alright there Ino-chan?"

"O-of course I am! It was just, you know- erm, uh you know- your dog! That's right! Just your dog is all!" Ino mentally patted herself for coming up with such a clever excuse though her face was flushed a shade of red.

"Uh… okay." Naruto shrugged, "anyways, I was just gonna go away-"

"Naruto! You made it!"

Inoichi had a pleasant smile on his face as he ushered both the children in to the store.

Looking around at the villagers that were not so subtly glaring at the whiskered boy previously around his store, he sent them a glare spiked with some **KI** **(Killer intent)** which achieved the result of them looking away uncomfortably. Inoichi nodded to himself in satisfaction and put on the ' CLOSED' door sign.

Naruto paid rapt attention to Ino as she babbled about the different kind of flowers and their meanings. The boy looked rather eager to be learning about the flowers and their values. Inoichi's soft smile disappeared when he saw his daughter about to step on a small sharp piece of pot that would surely pierce her thin sandals and into her flesh.

"Ino-chan! Watch out!"

As fast as he was, Naruto reacted a bit faster and was able to reach his daughter because of their already close distance.

Ino felt a rush and saw a blur of orange and she suddenly felt warmth engulf her. Ino recovered from her sense of vertigo and bewilderedly looked around only to make eye contact with deep sea-blue eyes. She looked down at the floor and noticed the stray piece of sharp ceramic jutting upwards. The slowly returned her gaze to the luring eyes of a certain boy.

Immediately putting together the pieces on what just transpired. Ino found herself burning up from being in such a close proximity with Naruto and being in his arms.

She spoke.

"Y-you jzt sngnned em?"

She tried to at least.

Naruto scrunched his eyes slightly in confusion, "What?" the jinchuuriki looked at Ino's father in referral towards his daughter's attempt at speech, "What?"

However, Inoichi had on a strange expression on his face that Naruto couldn't really identify.

The clan head of the Yamanakas blinked in rapid owlish fashion as he watched his daughter stammer uncontrollably and backing out of the boy's embrace slowly. After muttering out a few incoherent words and phrases, Ino darted out the back door of the shop.

Naruto, ever so curious, began to follow after Ino.

Inoichi realized that his daughter was beginning to be infatuated with the blonde jinchuuriki so he quickly gripped the boy in steely grip.

"Come Naruto, we'll begin your lessons now."

"But Ino-chan seemed a little-"

"Lessons. Now." Inoichi sternly said with a way too wide of a smile.

"Uh…" Naruto gulped. "Okay."

So they went into knowledge of what _Inoichi_ thought a shinobi should know. This ranged from politics, ninja arts, elements of Ninjutsu, chakra, chakra techniques, psychology, and even manners.

For several weeks, they went into these topics in a considerable amount for a ten year old. Inoichi was actually quite proud with how well Naruto took in his words. After the first day, the boy had said he wanted to try a new way of learning better so he summoned nine other **Kage** **Bunshins**. This way, he heard the lessons ten times a day.

It was quite an efficient way to learn.

This went on steady until one day, Naruto came up to Inoichi with a question.

"Inoichi-sensei, you know, I had a question regarding what happened to shinobis after they… y'know, kick the bucket." Naruto finished awkwardly.

The clan leader frowned, "Well… I mean, uh… let's see-"

"No no, not that," Naruto hastily interrupted, "I meant how come some shinobis don't get funeral services and things like that? I remember one time when I was little one of the daimyos that passed away had a big ol' funeral thingy… I guess what I'm asking is…" Naruto hesitated a bit before continuing.

"How come… Iruka-sensei didn't have one?"

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Naruto laid the flowers down horizontally at the base of the buried stake before anger started welling up inside of him. As he learned it was very uncommon for anyone in Konoha to have a proper burial unless they were someone of importance. Much like the Hokage or an important clan head or political figure.

Naruto clenched his fists.

But not some clanless shinobi like Iruka Umino.

Someone like himself.

They were unimportant.

He took a deep calming breath and relaxed his clenched fists, _'This is why I'm gonna become stronger! For Iruka-sensei.'_

"I will get stronger sensei." Naruto vowed as he dipped his head, "I will change the world for the better dattebayo."

Sounds of twigs being crushed crackled upon the evening sky.

"That is a very bold claim… Naruto-kun."

Emotions ran wild as the jinchuuriki instantly recognized the voice.

Sadness...

Rage…

Betrayal…

Naruto whispered response was low with barely suppressed anger as his sapphire-blue eyes met an impassive charcoal gaze.

"Itachi."

* * *

 **X**

* * *

 **A/N: Two things to inform you:**

 **One (again): I have a Naruto x Fairy Tail crossover! Do check it out! **

**Two: This chapter will be the last chapter to input a vote for the harem! And yes, you can throw in a second vote with another review!**

 **Current poll votes via reviews:**

 **Anko: 11**

 **Kurenai: 10**

 **Ino: 8**

 **Tayuya: 5**

 **Hana: 3**

 **Temari: 3**

 **Yugito: 2**

 **Mei: 2**

 **Yugao:1**

 **Hinata: 1**

 **Karin: 1**

 **Sakura: 1**

 **Fu: 1**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: STILL NEED A BETA!**

 **YOOO! WAS LOOKING THROUGH ONE OF MY FEW FAVORITE AUTHORS' FAVORITE LIST AND THIS STORY IS ON THERE! HAZELEYES180! So doooope. If you haven't read his stories already which you should have by now… then you guys are missing out. Top three writers on fanfic man! Thanks for the favorite!**

 **Anyways! Sup mother fu- nope, kidding!** **Still looking for a beta for my Naruto stories.** **Someone that can help me with details and grammar and discuss ideas with!**

 **Posted a Fairy Tail X Naruto crossover if you're interested! "** **Team Uzumaki!** **" is the title. Do go check it out if you haven't already!**

 **Anyways, unto the reviewers!**

 **Zeusthordain:** **Normally in under any other society and whatnot, I would consider it vulgar but at a young age, they're being trained to kill by the time they hit the age 12.**

 **Devilsummoner666:** **Sorry for the pace! I'll be rewriting this story when my skills as a writer get better.**

 **Hdzulfikar:** **Sharingan is in the left!**

 **Batman1998** **: I didn't want to make him too OP so he's only worked on his Taijutsu for the most part. He will be training soon enough though.**

 **YuNaru19** **: That's my mistake. When I rewrite, I'll be fixing that. Just an error on my part. I really need a beta for these kind of mistakes lol.**

 **Archleone:** **lmao your review is perfectly sound, especially with Hiruzen. I am not too fond of the Sandaime either in this story. Less dumb Naruto incoming at the end of next chap.**

 **Holy balls everyone, Thanks for the reviews/votes! I've arranged for the voting in order at the bottom. Anko, Kurenai, Ino are for sure in I think. To be honest, I don't really want to add too much more to the harem. So I think four is the max. MAYBE five. Next chapter will be the last voting chapter.**

 **Anyways, Tayuya, Mei, Yugito, and Temari got a huge jump in votes!**

 **Next chapter will finally be closing in unto canon.**

* * *

"Speech"

' _thought'_

" **Jutsu: in use** **"**

' _ **Kyuubi/Summon thought'**_

" **Kyuubi/Summon speech"**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto, wouldn't be posting stories on here. Nope, I'd be revising Naruto the canon to fit much better like this story! Well, not that this story is good but something along the lines like this! BUT I DON'T OWN NARUTO. ALL RIGHT GOES TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNER.**

* * *

 **Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself**

 **Chapter 7: Awakening.**

* * *

 **X**

* * *

 _ **IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER:**_

 _Sounds of twigs being crushed crackled upon the evening sky._

" _That is a very bold claim… Naruto-kun."_

 _Emotions ran wild as the jinchuuriki instantly recognized the voice._

 _Sadness..._

 _Rage…_

 _Betrayal…_

 _Naruto whispered response was low with barely suppressed anger as his sapphire-blue eyes met an impassive charcoal gaze._

" _Itachi."_

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Naruto stood defiantly with a hardened face. Despite trying to keep himself calm and collected, the jinchuuriki couldn't help but clench his fist and shake with rage. With his other hand, he kept Saki-chan inside his vest with a firm grip in hopes that she would stay quiet.

It seemed to be working

"I see you still haven't activated the **Sharingan** … meaning you either can't or you haven't."

Naruto ignored that statement and snarled at the other surviving Uchiha with a myriad of negative emotions, "What do you want _traitor_!?"

Itachi stared at Naruto impassively for several long uncomfortable moments.

"Well?!" Naruto demanded.

"Hn… I see Sandaime-sama hasn't told you anything; past, present, nor future."

"What the hell are you talking about you scum!"

"You are coming with me tonight, whether you like it or not."

"Like hell I am-"

"kukuku… looks like you found him Itachi-kun."

Naruto felt an intense unpleasant shiver rack his body at the new voice that _slithered_ into the conversation. Slick, cunning, snake-like were the words he'd use to describe the voice.

Almost to back up Naruto's descriptive words, a tall, pale skinned man seemingly _slithered_ out of the shadows to stand next to the traitorous Uchiha. Almost instinctively, the jinchuuriki jumped back with a guard up.

This action seemed to have amused the snake Sannin. The pale skinned shinobi chuckled gleefully, "Look Itachi-kun! Such great instincts… our dear Naruto-kun has so much potential for one so young, wouldn't you agree?"

Itachi shrugged, "It does not matter much to me Orochimaru, we have our orders."

aruto growled deeply, "I'm not going with any of you freaks!" the blonde brought his fingers together in 't' formation, " **Kage Bunshin No Jutsu** **(Shadow Clone Jutsu)!** " Puffs of clouds formed and out came twelve **Kage Bunshins**.

However, instead of being intimidated or even a hint of worriedness, Orochimaru licked his lips and leaned forward with anticipation, "Excellent Naruto-kun! Show me more!"

Naruto knew he was outmatched but what could he do? He couldn't run away; they'd capture him. If Orochimaru was anything like Itachi, that would mean he was strong and faster than most, if not all ninjas.

There was no way he could get away from Orochimaru much less Itachi. So he decided that he would settle for the idea of attracting as much attention to himself as possible. Hopefully, creating enough ruckus would bring help to his situation.

How the hell did these two even get into Konoha anyways?! Was it really that easy for the enemies to enter the village just like that?! Kami, he was gonna have to scold the old man for that if he ever got out of this mess.

"Orochimaru, do not deviate from the plan. We are here to simply extract him and evac." Itachi frowned, _'This is not fortunate. At this rate, Naruto will be in the hands of death by the end of the minute… I don't think the leader would like that too much.'_

"Oh, but I wonder why our dear Naruto-kun created clones… perhaps to cause enough ruckus to alert reinforcement?" At Naruto's nervous gulp at being found out, the snake sage grinned deviously, "Looks like we should subdue the jinchuuriki a bit, ne Itachi-kun?" Orochimaru hissed out excitedly.

' _Damn it! They found out super fast… guess I'll have to adapt- wait, what did he call me?'_ Naruto quirked an eyebrow, _'Jinchuuriki? What is that? power of the human sacrifice…?"_

Itachi narrowed his eyes, "Do not get reckless Orochimaru, the objective is not to kill him, but to extract him."

The pale Sannin scoffed, "Whatever, now, let's take care of the twelve clones-" Orochimaru paused and his eyes widened; he had counted, on instinct, how many shadow clones the boy produced and-

"Where is the twelfth clone?!"

Immediately, Orochimaru vanished in a blur and along with his movement came the distinct popping that indicated all of Naruto's **Kage Bunshins** had been ended all in half a second.

Well all the **Kage Bunshins** in the vicinity. He had discreetly sent one to get reinforcement, preferably the hokage or some jounin that was hopefully patriotic enough to aide the village. After all, the two traitors in Konoha that stemmed the leaf was obviously a threat to Konoha and her people.

Hopefully, the **Kage Bunshin** had enough sense to **Henge** into someone else. He didn't want the risk of no one helping simply cause it was him…

Naruto gritted his teeth as his clones were dispelled instantaneously, _'Even after all that training, I can't hold my own for a few seconds- HUGH'_

As soon as the eleventh pop was heard, Naruto found himself gasping for air as he was hoisted by the throat against a tree.

"WHERE DID YOU SEND THE LAST CLONE?!" Orochimaru hissed angrily. So caught up in his excitement at such a potential filled experiment, he didn't pay attention to the clone that escaped.

Naruto chuckled despite the gravity of his situation, "Heh, w-whats wrong? _Snake_ g-got your t-tongue, Hebi-teme?"

Instead of getting a riled up response like he expected, he was dropped suddenly onto the hard ground. Naruto immediately scrambled himself upright into a hastily made guard. The pale-skinned Sannin roared with a demented laugh, "Kukukuku…" He threw his head back, "YES NARUTO-KUN, YOU ARE WONDERFUL!" The creepy long-haired shinobi then leaned forward, "ENTERTAIN ME!"

Eyes gleaming with excited malice, Orochimaru extended his tongue into his cloak and brought out a kunai. Without warning, Orochimaru lunged forward at a speed that Naruto could not even hope to comprehend. However, the sannin's action with obvious intent was in vain for it was only to be met with another steel kunai.

Itachi stood in front of the jinchuuriki with narrowed eyes glaring at the pale-faced man, "Control yourself Orochimaru, or I will be forced to for you."

In response, the Sannin chuckled darkly, "Do you truly think you would be able to stop me from what I want Itachi-kun? No, I am a _Sannin_ who went on par with the great salamander of-" He paused midsentence and sharply glanced over his shoulder and jumped to the side just as a barrage of kunais and shuriken sailed by him. Itachi, also foreseeing the attack, grabbed Naruto by the shoulders and forced him to lay on the ground as the sharp weapons flew overhead safely.

Orochimaru tilted his head in curiosity before a nasty wide grin showed itself on his face, "Kukuku… It's been a while Anko-chan."

The purple-haired kunoichi came out the shadows with an unveiled expression of utter hatred marring her face, "I don't know why you came Orochimaru, but you _die_ today!"

Orochimaru laughed loudly, "So this is what your clone sent for Naruto-kun?" He licked his lips and redirected his attention toward his ex-apprentice's neck, "I wonder, what effects the seal had on you Anko-chan… maybe I will take you back with me…"

"You're not gonna be taking me anywhere if you die fucker!" Anko snarled before lunging at the Sannin.

Itachi watched briefly before turning to Naruto, only to find the spot he had thrown the boy for cover was empty. Activating his Doujutsu, his eyes followed the distinct trail that was left by the boy in his haste to escape.

He shook his head and calmly **Shunshined** out the clearing.

' _Always making things difficult otouto…'_

* * *

 **X**

* * *

As he ran, angry tears fell without restraint. Seeing the elder Uchiha brought raw emotions that Naruto didn't want to feel. In addition to that, he was running away from the help he had gotten.

This situation was all too familiar.

' _Kuso! I need to get help fast-'_

 _ **THUD!**_

Yelping from what he ran into, Naruto fell backwards unto his butt and rubbed his now bruised nose soothingly. Immediately realizing that he ran into something that felt like clothed flesh, the downed boy jumped up and glared at whoever-

' _Huh?'_ Naruto looked around, ' _There's no one around?'_ He felt something brush his legs and on instinct cocked his leg back for a savage kick only to stop when he noticed the cute hazel eyes of Saki-chan looking at him.

"Oh shoot! Saki-chan! I'm sorry! You must've fell out when I bumped into whatever!" He bent down and put the puppy back into his jacket, "Now you have to stay there and I promise everything will be okay!"

Saki wagged her tail and looked at him with her innocent eyes and gave him a lick before snuggling back into the jacket.

Naruto instantly relaxed, "good girl-"

"You have obtained a companion I see."

The jinchuuriki felt his blood run cold at the monotonous voice he was oh so familiar with. He leapt an impressively far distance for a ten year old and turned around with a glare. Holding a kunai he had plucked from the assault on Orochimaru, he went into a defensive stance.

"Why are you here Itachi!" There was no sense in running, if Itachi caught him this fast, it meant that Naruto was way too slow, even with all of Gai-sensei's training.

That thought made his body tighten with anger.

A small smile twitched on the elder Uchiha's lip that served to irk Naruto even more. Gritting his teeth, Naruto was about to yell before Itachi spoke.

"I told you Naruto-kun, you are to come with me."

"And why the hell would I do that?! So you can kill me?!" Naruto sneered.

Itachi shrugged, "If you do not come with me," The charcoal eyes turned red with three tomoes spinning around them, "I will kill her." With that said he brought out a small black Tibetan Mastiff pup out.

"I believe you called her Saki-chan."

"Wh-What!?" Naruto ripped his jacked off and saw 'Saki-chan' _dissipate_ into several dark crows. "When?!" He whispered.

"When you fell." He said simply. "I'm sure you can piece together the rest; you are an intelligent boy after all-"

"GIVE HER BACK!" Naruto roared.

"Come with me and she'll be safe… otherwise I will kill her."

"D-Don't you _dare!_ " Naruto growled out, "Don't you dare take away the one of the few things I have left to love."

"Then do not resist." Came the monotonous reply.

' _That stupid voice! ALWAYS LIKE THAT!'_ The dull tone of the Uchiha infuriated Naruto to no end. So much, in fact, that red chakra started seeping out of his pores.

"GI **VE HER BACK!** " Naruto roared as his facial feature began to attain more feral and blood-lustered attributes. The whiskers on his cheeks darkened and became rougher as his eyes took on a bloody-red color. In addition to this, his hair became spikier and his nails elongated into claws.

Itachi narrowed his eyes, _'looks like the eye is not activating. A lost cause perhaps… I wonder…_ ' he glanced at the puppy he was holding by the tuft of fur on the back of her neck.

Feeling the incredibly surplus of chakra coursing through his network, Naruto settled onto all fours; it just felt… _right_. The new sense of high gave Naruto a sense of high.

' _I can do this! I've never felt this powerful before!'_ He glared at the man he once held a high regard to, ' _I will kill him.'_

"I will not ask again Naruto-kun; come, or lose her."

Naruto narrowed his red eyes, " **You won't be doing anything like that!"** as soon as the words finished, the kyuubified blonde launched himself from position astounding speed.

So astounding, it caused Itachi to widen his eyes in surprise, ' _Fast! He's been training!'_ However, even despite the fact that Naruto had been training, the boy's attempt at lunging at the Uchiha had been in vain.

Itachi, after all, _is_ an S-ranked missing nin.

The traitorous Uchiha sidestepped the blonde and brought out a kunai just as the boy turned around for another attack.

Naruto froze.

"You have been warned."

 _ **SLICK!**_

A pained whimper escaped Saki as Itachi sliced her stomach open.

" **WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING YOU SICK FU-"**

It happened in the slowest of motions. His eyes were locked on the pure eyes of his puppy. The pained gaze that she returned did nothing to ease his soul. But for a split second, just as it seemed she was about wag her tail happily…

 _ **SLICK!**_

A sickening fountain of blood squirted out unto a horrified face of the whiskered child. Immediately, Itachi flung the carcass of the dead puppy directly at Naruto.

The body of Saki-chan skidded to a halt at his feet.

The initial shock broke Naruto out of his slight demonic transformation.

A demented Hysteria fell upon the boy.

"N-No! T-This can't be r-r-real! There's no- No! NO! IT CAN'T-" He looked up for anything that would reaffirm in his hopeless belief of her being alive. His eyes darted wildly as he scratched at his neck, drawing blood.

Suddenly, he looked up with a triumphant maniacal gleam in his eyes, "A genjutsu! It has to be!"

He only knew of one way to break out of a genjutsu.

Raising the Kunai, he prepared to plunge it into his stomach.

Right as the kunai was about to penetrate, Itachi appeared in front of him and shoved the body of the dog that Naruto had grown to love in a short amount of time.

"She is _dead_."

There was no remorse in his voice.

That's when an excruciating pain fell upon Naruto's face, to be precise, pain was felt in his right eye.

Familiar howls of pain accompanied the night once again.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Itachi looked on calmly as the jinchuuriki writhed in pain. He didn't want it to resort to this but… the elder Uchiha knew the pain was necessary, especially since the eye was so powerful. Putting Naruto through the pup's death was the catalyst needed.

He approached the boy only to leap back as three bodies **Shunshin'd** in front of Naruto. Immediately, the three new people to the scene were already a tense defensive stance.

He stated their names respectively, "Kakashi-sempai, Gai-sempai, Kurenai-san. It seems as if Naruto's clone managed to garner some reinforcements."

Kakashi was the first to speak, though not at the traitorous Uchiha, "Kurenai-san, I believe that is Anko's signature over there, please go to her and once you see an opportunity; _retreat_ , immediately."

Kurenai nodded, more than antsy to go help her best friend.

She again performed a **Shunshin** towards the two clashing chakra signature.

He turned towards the Gai, "Perhaps you should too?"

"Nonsense! Itachi is just as dangerous, if not more dangerous than Orochimaru! It would be unyouthful for me to not aide you! Besides! The youthfulness shines brightly within Anko-san and Kurenai-san!"

"Gai, please, _go_."

Gai frowned, "Kakashi, you _know_ Itachi is the more dangerous enemy here and Naruto is the priority."

The rival of Gai cursed inwardly. Anko, Kurenai and Gai were supposed to back each other up. Technically, Gai shouldn't even be here.

Itachi cleared his throat to retrieve their attention, Gai-sempai would not be too big of an obstacle at the moment.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the Uchiha, "The moon is bright tonight."

Gai looked at his rival confusingly, "What are you saying Kakashi?! That makes no sense-"

Itachi spoke without regards to Gai, "If only the red clouds weren't wayward tonight."

Kakashi instantly relaxed, "I'm surprised you are the seed Hokage-sama mentioned."

Itachi nodded.

Gai stared confusingly at his rival, "What is going on?"

The silver-haired jounin glanced at his fellow jounin, "Recall how Hokage-sama requested a new mastership over Naruto? Well it wasn't exactly me- well, it _was_ me initially but plans changed and he needed a new sense and uh…" He gestured at Itachi, "Well, you're looking at him."

Gai frowned, "But that makes no sense! How is an unyouthful person like Itachi in charge of-"

Kakashi held a hand up, "I do not know the details Gai, but this is an SS-ranked mission, no one outside of you, me, Itachi, Jiraiya-sama, and the Hokage-sama know of this. However, I will tell you this; Itachi _is_ one of the good guys."

Gai remained silent at this.

The son of the 'White Fang' turned a curious eye towards the other Doujutsu wielding person, "Though I am curious how this came to be given the discrepancy of the past events…"

"I am not privy to share any information." Itachi simply replied and moved onto the next topic, "Although I suspect who will journey with me, I should still ask, which of you will be accompanying me?"

Gai broke his silence, "This makes no sense! Why would you be one to train _my_ student? And why the hell would one of us accompany you? Kakashi, this must be a ploy, I do not trust Itachi enough to hand over Naruto-kun!"

Kakashi shook his head, "Gai, I personally talked to Hokage-sama about this mission and the phrase he responded with aligns exactly within mission parameters of which we were subjected to."

Gai glared at Itachi, "Still! I do not believe that… that…" Suddenly Gai felt himself losing consciousness, "What did… you… do…" the 'Green Beast of Konoha' fell in a forward motion unto his knees into a slumped posture.

Wordlessly, Kakashi placed his rival in a more comfortable position.

"Now that he is out of the picture Kakashi-sempai, please undo the genjutsu placed upon Naruto-kun. And do not worry about Gai-sempai, he will wake within fifteen minutes."

' _Naruto was under a genjutsu the whole time?'_

Quickly forming the required hand seal, Kakashi gathered chakra and overrode surrounding illusion. Instead of the still and lying boy he saw on the ground, he saw same boy crying with pain all the while writhing and shaking with pain.

Eyes widened with shock, The Konoha jounin turned to Itachi with noticeable **KI (Killer Intent)** , "What's going on?! What did you do!"

Never one to betray emotions, Itachi replied stoically with the same impassive face, "The **Sharingan** , it seems to be awakening."

Kakashi shook his head already knowing how Naruto obtained the Uchiha Doujutsu, "That doesn't make any sense! My **Sharingan** had no trouble adjusting!"

"You did not have a demon sealed inside you," Itachi pointed out bluntly.

"I suppose…" Kakashi conceded, he looked at his sensei's son briefly before looking back at Itachi, "How do we go about this now?"

Itachi stared back impassively.

"I do not know."

… … …

"What." Kakashi closed his eyes and took deep breaths lest he lashed out at the Uchiha, " _What_ the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Again, I do not know."

"How the hell do you not-"

"There was an… unforeseen variable."

Kakashi understood immediately, "Orochimaru."

Itachi nodded, "I thought out various options but I could not think of one that would not compromise my position."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I am not privy to share any information."

"Kami this is frustrating."

"I apologize sempai."

Kakashi waved him off, "We need to do something about Naruto but Orochimaru is a problem we need to tend to first-"

"Kukukuku, no need to worry about that, I'll be gone on my own accord," the aforementioned pale Sannin stepped out of the shadows with two bodies slumped over his shoulder. With a sadistic glint in his eyes, he aimed a predatory smile towards a jinchuuriki and Uchiha.

Two perfect experiments for him.

Speaking of the jinchuuriki, the Sannin suddenly became malicious. The snake sage hissed at Itachi with anger, "What is the wrong with my perfect experiment!? _What_ did you do to him?!"

Kakashi found himself cursing again as he recognized the form of one Anko Mitarashi and Kurenai Yuuhi on the pale faced traitor.

At this point, the Sannin was becoming hysterical.

"WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY PERFECT EXPERIMENT?!" Orochimaru bit his thumb and hissed out, " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!** " A giant thirty feet in length and four feet wide appeared. Orochimaru handed the two experiments he had obtained in his ex-apprentice and her friend to the snake, "Keep them for a bit at hideout 1209 until I come by."

Before Kakashi could do anything, the snake poof'd out of existence.

The Sannin's eyes blazed with anger at the two **Sharingan** users, "Looks like I'll just have to replace Naruto-kun with you Hatake."

At this, Kakashi's **Sharingan** activated.

Orochimaru smirked, "Yes, you will be a fine substitute Hatake-" Suddenly, Orochimaru cursed as he felt a familiar signature stir in the clearing they were situated in. His looked around and saw a patch of air that seemed to be shimmying and distorting..

The patch of 'air' revealed itself to be a blinking Maito Gai.

"Unyouthful that genjutsu…" Gai muttered blearily.

The traitorous sannin cursed his luck; the extraction was to go without a hitch, but Kakashi and Gai were no ordinary jounins- no, they were strong; especially Gai. Himself and Itachi were supposed to be out of here in a blink of an eye with the jinchuuriki then they would go on their way. Itachi would've carried the boy then Orochimaru would strike.

So why was their plan going to shit? Itachi's information was never faulty-

It all clicked for the snake Sannin.

His eyes widened with murderous anger, "Itachi! You betrayed us?!"

Orochimaru knew when to cut his loss and made to flee instantly. However, he knew that he couldn't return to the hideout of Akatsuki; already he was a suspicious recruit to the group, no one seemed to have trusted him. In addition to the suspicion that was brewing within the organization, there was another probable cause to not return. Knowing Itachi, the Uchiha probably had already taken precaution to ensure Orochimaru as a traitor to the organization's agenda.

Before he left the scene however, he took one glance at Naruto before making a "tsk" noise, ' _such_ _potential_ _wasted_. _Oh_ _well_ , _there_ _would_ _surely_ _be_ _more_ _opportunities_ _in_ _the_ _future_.'

Kakashi let out a breath of relief before turning a cautious glance towards Itachi, "was it okay for him to be let go?"

Itachi nodded, "Indeed. I have set up the necessary steps for the day he would turn against us."

Kakashi nodded, he looked at 'Gai', "Are you going to dispel that genjutsu now?"

Without a word, the Uchiha looked at the pseudo-Gai and the image of the Taijutsu master disappeared. Moments after, an area not too far away revealed a still sleeping Gai where Kakashi had left him.

"With Orochimaru out the way sempai, are you ready to leave?"

The silver-haired jounin sent two clone to inform of the events of today and carry Gai to safety. With everything set and out of the way, he nodded and sighed.

Including what had happened to Kurenai and Anko. Needless to say, the hokage was _not_ going to be happy. Itachi walked over the now still and unconscious blonde jinchuuriki.

"Let us be on our way Sempai."

Kakashi agreed, "Lets."

The wielders of the Uchiha's famous doujutsu **Shunshined** out of the area.

It was time begin Naruto's training anew.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Naruto felt a wet sensation applied to the posterior of his back. For a second, he panicked thinking it was blood but the liquid was way too thin to be blood. So he relaxed for a few minutes; the feeling was a stark contrast the stinging sensation in his eyes. The water provided a cool floating feeling that dulled the pain in his eyes.

Hesitantly and very, _very_ slowly, Naruto lifted his eyelids in a painstakingly slow manner. As soon as half a nanometer was lifted, the boy clenched his eyes shut in fear that opening his eyes would bring about a new set of pain.

He took deep calming breaths and focused on the cool liquid sensation upon his back and felt the darkness around him. That was good, it wasn't bright and blinding.

Increasing his pace of breathing he clenched his eyes even more so and decided that he would do it fast. There would be no time to think, otherwise he'd go back on his words and remain a blind rat.

He sat up and seized his breathing and opened his eyes wide and gasped.

His gasp, however, didn't stem from pain, but rather, _clarity_.

Everything was so sharply clear to him. It was if life's resolution had been cloudiness up until now.

Realizing only now that he was in the confines of what seemed to be best described as sewer like, Naruto turned his head behind to see the exact same setting.

The boy frowned, _'This place looks never ending…'_

Regardless of his thought, Naruto decided that sitting in place would get him nowhere; literally.

Standing up, the blonde straightened his clothes and noted that his clothes were dry. Brows furrowed, Naruto went into a crouch and dipped his finger into the shallow layer of water.

' _Interesting… my finger stays wet but my clothes doesn't… that's… cool._ '

Naruto saw something odd within the water and peered closer. Just as the water was about to still and allow him to see the anomaly, a powerful ancient voice boomed.

" **Youkoso, ningen (Welcome, human)."**

The blonde had to strain his neck to look up at the giant pair of red eyes.

"Who- no, _what_ are you?"

The Kyuubi No Kitsune gave a malicious smile, **"Don't pretend you impudent fool, I** _ **know**_ **you know boy."** The smile on the fox's face grew even wider, **"Too bad you're being drawn away... We'll continue this later."**

Naruto remained silent as he was being drawn towards reality.

The Uzumaki's eyes never left the gaze of the ancient entity's sadistic glare.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Naruto willed the constant bop of his the surface he felt against his body to still with no avail. The rough movement of whatever the hell finally jerked the boy awake when he fell over unto another surface.

It slowly dawned unto him that his face was a bit wet and part of shirt that was close to his collar bone.

He blinked and the blurriness suddenly dripped away showing that tears were waiting in his eyes.

' _Why am I crying…?'_

Like a broken dam, the memories flooded through his mind and he clenched his eyes with his jaws clenched at the torturing and agonizing memories.

' _Why… would he…'_

Naruto couldn't keep his stomach content down and released everything onto the surface of the floor. He rotated his body and curled his legs up into a fetal position. He whimpered and cried himself to sleep.

Hours later, another particular rough bump in the road startled Naruto into consciousness.

He sat up and glared before blinking rapidly due to the dryness of his eyes. In an attempt to get the crust that formed at the edge of his eyes, Naruto raised his arms.

He tried to at least.

However, his attempts fell short because his arms were firmly tied against his sides. He struggled against the restraining ropes but it wouldn't budge. Naruto began sending chakra throughout his body only to feel it being absorbed into the ropes.

A frustrated growl ripped loose from his throat as he began thrashing violently against the restraints.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. By the way, those are chakra restraining ropes."

Naruto shot up and turned to the corner of what he now assumed to be the inside of a carriage. His puffy eyes fell upon a familiar white-haired man casually reading an orange book.

"You!"

"Me."

"What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Reading."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Are you working for Itachi?!"

"You're sort of idiotic, did you know that?"

Anger coursed through the jinchuuriki's veins as he snarled, "Let me out of here!"

Kakashi finally dropped his book and looked at the boy with his one eye. He in a cool tone, "Oh? and what would you do? Run back to Konoha to be weak, again?"

"Let me out and I'll show you how 'weak' I am you bastard!"

The silver haired jounin let out an annoyed sigh. How in the world was he going to convince this stubborn-muled boy that he was on his side?

"Naruto, you need to listen to me."

"Go to hell!"

"The only way you even getting a remote possibility of getting out those chakra-absorbing ropes is if you be cooperative."

Naruto shutted up, albeit with a fierce glare.

Kakashi eye smiled at the blonde, "Okay! Now, You will now be training under my tutelage for about a year and a half. Understand? Okay good." Without waiting for his response, the jounin opened the carriage door and jumped out.

The jinchuuriki blinked owlishly at that statement.

Waiting despairingly, Naruto cursed every once in a while when the method of transport hit a rough bump on the road. There was no way for him to escape.

Hours later, Naruto found himself scowling while staying eerily still. There was nothing for him to do but contemplate on recent events and slowly, he's felt a rising anger.

Anger at not being able to save Saki-chan.

Anger at not being able to make a difference

Anger at being _weak_.

' _Why is it that I can't ever do anything?'_

Suddenly, the carriage stopped and the door opened.

Kakashi poked his head in, "We're here!" he made a hand seal and the ropes that tied his legs together were dropped.

With a moderate amount of struggle, Naruto finally managed to get up on his legs. He took small steps to the door and peered down. The drop wasn't that big–maybe two to three feet –but there was practically no lighting. Once he hopped off the carriage, he felt much better on solid ground. The constant rumbling and tumbling of being inside the carriage gave him a new sense of hatred for confined mobile transports.

it was only then, after he finished appreciating the solid ground he stood on, did he realize the gravity of his situation. He carefully peered around and realized that he was in a vast cavern that seemed to stretch three hundred yards in a radius. He looked up and noted that the ceiling was way up; perhaps around four hundred yards. There were few torches that gave the cavern an ominous lighting.

He nervously looked around noticed there was no one around. He gulped and walked around in hopes of finding an exit. After walking for what seemed to be hours, Naruto came across a door. Thankfully it was a door that was opened via push and not knob.

The only problem was that the door was more like a gate.

He looked up in awe; the size similar to the barred cell that held the entity inside him.

The Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Naruto sighed; So much mystery revolved around him. As soon as he saw the giant chakra beast, he immediately understood why he was so hated. More than likely, the Kyuubi was sealed inside of him.

Tales of the Yondaime stated that he had defeated the giant beast. Why would they lie?

Naruto gritted his teeth, why would the Yondaime pick _him_ , an orphan of all people? Was it because he already had no one? Was it a random coincidence?

' _Ha. Probably thought that a giant demon wouldn't affect an orphan's already shitty life.'_ Naruto bitterly thought.

He shook his head, he would have to find the answers after this… _situation_ he was currently in. Deciding he already spent long enough thinking, he attempted to push the door open.

He grunted as he exerted as much possible force against the door while being limited in terms of mobility.

The door didn't budge.

Naruto growled in annoyance. He took several steps back and prepared to charge at the door when it suddenly opened. His eyes immediately took in the light in what he hoped to be outside. Soon, however, the light provided at the end was blocked by a silhouette.

"Yo! You found it."

Naruto charged at the silver haired jounin without a second thought. Kakashi easily sidestepped the tackle attempt. Kakashi chuckled but stopped when he noticed that Naruto had a smirk on his face.

The Uzumaki's intention wasn't to hit him, but it was to run to the exit.

Kakashi blinked after the boy before pulling out his orange book. He began a carefree walk after the boy.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

As he approached the end. He speeded up and burst through the exit and looked around in astonishment. He was on a green slab of land that stopped at a large turquoise-body of still water.

That, though, was not what made him look around in astonishment and he was surrounded by what seemed to be the _interior_ of the waterfall. At the edge of liquid curtain, there were various beds of boulders. The waterfall itself was a magical Alantis-blue.

He was literally looking at the flow of the waterfall inside out.

It was so tranquil and serene.

Realizing he spent too much time admiring the scenery, he cursed; there was no time to be wasted on enjoying the damn view.

He looked around for a piece of wood or boat. Anything that could serve as a floating device for him. He looked over his shoulder and saw Kakashi approaching casually. He cursed and stepped into the water and prepared to drown trying to escape.

Kakashi paused.

"Naruto, I promise I am not here to harm you. There is a greater harm out there and you _need_ to understand that."

Naruto bit his lip in hesitance and glanced into the shallow water his ankles were submerged in.

Kakashi jumped at the opportunity to drive in his point, "Naruto, take this into consideration, if my wishes were to truly harm you, you'd be harmed by now."

Naruto chewed his inner cheeks in great thoughts, Kakashi's statement did make sense. But…

"But… why?"

The jounin sighed. He sat down and patted a spot near him. The whiskered blonde reluctantly walked over and plopped down cross-legged, though, it was a bit far from where Kakashi originally patted.

"Can you take the ropes off me at least?"

The silver-haired **Sharingan** user eye smiled, "Maybe if you're good."

In response, the boy grumbled about dumb ninja cyclops and stupid silver haired people.

"Okay, explain."

Being serious for once, Kakashi put down his orange book once more.

"It all started a decade ago…"

Naruto locked eyes with the jounin, "I presume it started with the Kyuubi's attack."

Said jounin's visage became shocked, "How did you know?! Did someone tell you?! What do _you_ know? Tell me now Naruto!"

Naruto let out an annoyed sigh, "Maybe if you stop blasting me questions, I can tell you… Now, first off, no one told me. Second of all, I just guessed. Third of all, I know that I'm in a situation that I don't want to be because of Uchihas and the Kyuubi. Since I was born on the day of the attack It's really not _that_ hard to piece together some things. The only thing I don't know is how _I'm_ connected to all this."

That was a lie, somewhat. As soon as he encountered the fox in what he assumed to be his subconscious, he knew that he contained the fox somehow, or part of the fox. He just didn't know how the hell it got there and why he was picked.

Kakashi looked at the boy shrewdly before nodding, "Okay. Anyways. As you said, Leading to the day of the Kyuubi attack, there seemed to be some seeds of dissent in Konoha. Nearly everyone was aware of the _tenseness_ of the atmosphere when it started. The animosity was directed at the Uchihas; a clan known for its… _confidence_ , so to speak."

At this Naruto scoffed, confidence? More like bull-headed douche-baggery-

Kakshi continued, unaware of Naruto's thought process, "Apparently, the Uchihas were not happy with their prestige and power status in the village. Regardless, the Yondaime was able to keep their greed at bay. Unfortunately, the Yondaime died the night the Kyuubi attacked. However, the next day, we realized we didn't provoke the beast into attacking. So that begged the question, _why_ did the Kyuubi no Kitsune attack?

"Almost immediately, suspicion fell upon the Uchihas due to their ocular abilities of their Doujutsu. Hushed whispers here and there circulated around the village. The **Sharingan** users became even more reserved. Tensions increased and the village found wind of a coup d'état via ANBU. To be precise, a certain Uchiha."

Naruto's mental gears wheeled liked crazy; ANBU, a certain Uchiha.

"Itachi Uchiha," Naruto whispered.

Kakashi nodded, "The councils needed to take action so they tasked a mission to him." he coughed, "You know what happened next."

"Forced to kill his family? That sucks. But you know what? I think that bastard deserved it."

 _Kakashi_ smiled sadly, "Do you really?"

"I…" Naruto really wanted to. The man killed innocent people and _her_ , his companion of a short time that he grew to love. He couldn't even bring himself to say his puppy's name, "I-i want to… but I can't. It's terrible of the council to force him to do that… no one deserves that."

The elder man looked at him with a calculating gaze.

Shifting a bit uncomfortably under the man's stare, the whiskered child pondered aloud, "Erm. So, uh, why did he come back?"

"A group or someone may or may not be after you for unknown reasons-"

"Oh, probably because of the Kyuubi inside me."

"Right, cause of the Ky- Naruto, how do you know of that?"

Naruto then explained to the elder man about him meeting him in the subconscious of his mind.

"Interesting." Was all the jounin had to say, _'Looks like I'll have to inform Kakashi and the village…'_

Naruto shifted awkwardly as the silver-haired man stared off into the space.

"So… where do you fit into all of this?"

"I will be training you."

"I have to ask one more time. Itachi was forced into the massacre mission?"

 _Kakashi_ nodded.

"But t-that doesn't make s-sense. If he's not the b-bad guy," Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat and spoke in a small voice, "W-why would h-he k-k-kill…" Naruto trailed off as unbidden memories rushed back.

 _Kakashi_ sighed, "I did not kill your ninken. She is still very much alive."

Naruto shot him a confused look, "Huh? I didn't say you, I said Itachi!"

 _Kakashi_ ignored him, "The ropes tied around you functions to cease flow between your tenketsus. That is including everything; from your feet, to your legs, to your head. This, obviously, I am sure you can infer, includes the eyes."

"The eyes? Why would that matter?"

"The **Sharingan** sees through everything, something I will show you now."

 _Kakashi_ sliced the rope with a simple slash of his kunai.

Much like the experience in his mindscape, everything became so _clear_. Naruto gasped at the clarity around him. Strangely, the upgraded resolution extended to both eyes. Everything was more sharper, but there was no actual change in the settings itself.

He turned his gaze to Itachi and-

Itachi?!

"WHAT THE! WHERE THE HELL IS KAKASHI?!"

"The Kakashi you were talking to was a genjutsu. The real Kakashi is setting traps around the perimeter because he is not privy to the information I just told you."

"He was just talking to me- No screw that! Prepare to die you sick-"

"Naruto! As I informed you, Saki-chan is not dead. The horrible experience I set on you was done through genjutsu, one that was so strong that only Uchihas with active **Sharingans** and few powerful individuals can break through it. I am sincere when I say this Naruto; I never wanted to harm you, but that was the only way for things to proceed and I apologize."

Itachi lowered his head and bowed.

"I am sorry… _Otouto_."

The jinchuuriki hesitated for a few moments before his face hardened, "Where is she then? Give her back first, that's the only way you'll have a chance of earning any type of forgiveness."

"That is… fair." Itachi let held out a hand sign and muttered something that Naruto wasn't able to pick up. The Uchiha turned to Naruto and explained, "I lifted a genjutsu in which she was in playing constantly with other puppies."

Naruto nodded, satisfied at his explanation but he offered no verbal response. He wasn't going to say jack diddly squat until he saw his damn-

" **BARK!"**

Several barks were heard from the distance. With each bark, it seemed to be drawing closer to his position. Naruto waited with impassively but he couldn't help the feeling of desperate hope from welling up from inside of him. He saw hit his precious companion and cried out with happiness before the little ball of black fur tackled him.

After several minutes of happiness and lots of licking, doubt reared its ugly head in Naruto's mind.

' _What if this is still a genjutsu?! This could be a trick to-'_

"Naruto, it is not a genjutsu. This, I assure you."

Naruto placed his puppy aside and stood up, "And how would I know that? you yourself just said that Uchihas and strong individuals could break free of your genjutsu. I train hard but I know I'm nowhere near your level and I am certainly not an Uchiha."

Itachi smiled, "Do not sell yourself short Naruto-kun, you are strong. But you are right, your strength does not, yet, compare to mine." The Uchiha let out an amused quirk of the lips as he saw the boy's annoyance, "I suppose you're not an Uchiha by birth but, since, you do possess the clan's doujutsu…" he trailed off.

Naruto's mind clicked and he rushed over to the still water.

His eyes widened as he focused on his left eye.

His **Sharingan** was…

 _Blazing_.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

 **A/N: Man I can't wait to rewrite the story… gonna fuse some chapters and what not, make better chapter endings, flow and blah blah. But I definitely gotta up my writing skills before I can revamp the story. Experience though, right?!**

 **Shoot!** _ **That's why I really need a beta!**_

 **Anyways, please, leave a review? Leave another vote perhaps?**

 **Flame me, anything, just REVIEW :D thanks!**

 **Current poll votes via reviews:**

 **Anko: 17**

 **Kurenai: 15**

 **Ino: 15**

 **Hana: 12**

 **Temari: 12**

 **Tayuya: 10**

 **Yugito: 9**

 **Mei: 8**

 **Fu: 8**

 **TenTen: 3**

 **Karin: 3**

 **Hinata: 2**

 **Yugao: 2**

 **Sakura: 2**

 **Konan: 1**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: HAPPY LATE THANKSGIVING!**

 **Yooo, Let me start off by saying sorry! I've been out of the country and I recently got a job that requires a lot of prereqs AND I got hospitalized.**

 **Anyways, two NEW stories that has more elements of AU yet still aligns with the plot has been posted. Please read the A/N at the end for a brief summary of the new stories posted! (Personally, I like** _ **To Rise Again**_ **Better).**

 **I'll start updating them frequently towards the end of next month, and I do mean frequently; so you can wait for this story update by reading those! :D**

 **Please? Lol.**

 **If interested, do check em out and review!**

 **This chapter focuses on training. But it eventually ends up with some time skips.**

 **And SORRY! I lied, canon's timeline will be** _ **nearing**_ **end of the chapter after after next.**

 **So, chapter 11 or 10, depending on how much I push into one chapter.**

 **To the Reviewers: Let me say that Naruto will not be OP right off the bat. He will struggle, and he** _ **will**_ **lose. Win more than he loses, obviously, but this is final.**

 **Shigure Toshiro: Thank you for commenting! Seriously appreciate you since you were day one!**

 **Aramus13: Thanks for the review! You don't have to fear! The dog wont die… yet. I'm glad you review every chapter, I appreciate it!**

 **Redcide47: I will be inputting both votes.**

 **Thor94: only one eye was damaged.**

 **Guitarmaster27: Thank you! My writing is mediocre at best though, I hope to continue growing as a writer over time! One day I hope to rewrite this story. Both votes were inputted!**

 **RedWinter23: Thank you for checking my stories out!**

 **Truefeeling: The romance is gonna be slower than a turtle. Sorry. I'm gonna try and make this realistic as possible meaning that he's not getting his harem within two chapters.**

 **Zeusthordain: I completely agree with you in a normal world. However, they are in a world where pre-teens are expected to kill at the age of 12, I, personally, think that cursing is okay lol.**

 **S idenote: Quick question, who does everyone think is THE strongest Jounin? Answer via review please; I was messaging a friend and my friend said Kakashi whereas I say Gai.**

* * *

"Speech"

' _thought'_

" **Jutsu: in use** **"**

' _ **Kyuubi/Summon thought'**_

" **Kyuubi/Summon speech"**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: Me No Own Naruto.**

* * *

 **Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself**

 **Chapter 8: Train! Train! Train!**

* * *

 **X**

* * *

It was such a strange sight to behold...

Two black tomoes constantly spinning around his pupil at random intervals; at times it would completely slow to a stop and at other times it would spin rapidly.

Saki curiously trotted over to her owner and looked at his face worryingly.

" **Bark!** "

In response, Naruto absentmindedly petted the Tibetan pup and continued staring at the eye that was unique only to his left socket through the water's reflection.

What was interesting, however, was that the color set that his **Sharingan** had. In contrast to the red and black present in regular Uchihas that possessed the doujutsu, his own was that of blue and black. He still retained his aqua-blue iris He still couldn't get over the fact that he had two black tomoes circulating on an orbital path around his pupil.

All in all, it was _badass_.

"It is interesting however, that you are already at stage two of the doujutsu."

Naruto looked up briefly and turned back to the water to continue marvel at his eye, "How many stages are there?"

"Usually, four to five, depending on how one looks at it. However, the last two stages are for only the most talented and dedicated shinobis who possess the **Sharingan**."

"I'm basically halfway there! This is awesome dattebayo!" he turned to Itachi with a follow up question, "Wait a minute, why did you use a genjutsu of Kakashi?"

"Would you have initially believed my words as easily if I was me?" Itachi questioned.

The boy struck a thinking pose for several minutes. "Probably not…"

Itachi nodded. "Now, I imagine you have more questions for me?"

"Hell yea-" he quickly coughed as he saw Itachi's raised eyebrow, "I mean, yes!" He quickly continued before the Uchiha could reprimand him, "aha! Anyways, I think I understand why you pretended to kill Saki-chan, it was to activate the doujutsu right?"

The Uchiha nodded once more.

"Um, there was this older purple-haired girl- ugh, I forgot her name, y'know who I'm talkin' about? She came in and seemed pissed at the snake-bastard."

"Do not worry about her."

"But-"

"It is out of our hands… for now."

Naruto scratched his head awkwardly. "Okay… so um… when will Kakashi-san return?"

"Soon… perhaps in an hour? You two will be situated here for a long time."

"Can I go back to Konoha soon?"

"No; the cover story that's been fed throughout certain ranks of Konoha's shinobis is that you were kidnapped by Orochimaru for his own devices. There are spies among Konoha from our organization that I am not aware of. The Sandaime will be taking this time to investigate heavily into the loyalties of our village citizens and shinobis."

"Organization? Who?! Why are you a part of them."

"The name is Akatsuki, I cannot give more information past that."

The jinchuuriki narrowed his eyes, "And why the hell not?"

"I have a time seal that does not allow me to approach certain subjects in depth. Already I am working towards a counter, but it will take a few years at the least." Itachi paused, "It is… most unfortunate."

"Wait! You said us two, as in me and Kakashi will be situated here for a long time, Won't you also be training me?"

"Yes. Though, I will be sparse in the sessions in which I guide you and they will remain unknown and in secret from Kakashi for reasons that shall not be revealed." As Naruto was about to ask another question, Itachi held a hand up, already guessing what the boy was about to ask, "The organizations will have me partaking in missions, thus preventing me from dedicating all my time to your training."

"It sucks you can't tell me anything about the organization," Naruto grumbled before another curious thought came across his mind, "Does Kakashi know anything?"

"No, the information I have told you is only privy to you, the Hokage, the council, and I. I would also like to inform you that he, Kakashi, was led to believe that my involvement after today would be zero. I am telling you now that Kakashi is wrong, but he doesn't know; meaning that when I train you, it will be private and when you're away from him, understand?"

"So Kakashi doesn't know you're gonna be helping me from this point onwards?"

"Correct."

Naruto nodded before pursing his lips at his thoughts. The child's voice was small in his next question.

"Why d-did you tell me?"

The ever stoic-faced Uchiha's expression became distant as he stared off into the flowing downpour of the waterfall, "I don't know exactly myself but it took a considerable burden off of my shoulder."

Itachi looked at the blonde and saw that the boy was staring directly at him with a hesitant form of guilt-ridden curiosity.

"Do not be afraid to voice your curiosity."

Naruto nodded. "Last question then," the boy cleared his throat, "uh, why did _you_ have to do the uh… erm, _stuff_ to your clan?"

"It was my duty."

Naruto frowned, "But that isn't fair…"

Itachi stood and walked over to the boy. He held a hand to lift the boy which Naruto took. Suddenly, the Uchiha flicked the blonde's forehead. Ignoring the boy's loud cry of "itai!", Itachi started walking back to the cave entrance.

"Life isn't always fair Otouto."

Naruto waited for several moments before realizing that he was left alone.

"Wait! Wait for me!"

With excitement bubbling in his chest at being able to earn the prospect of earning the familial bond with his role model once more, he ran with an excited Saki-chan in tow.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Naruto re-examined his surroundings with gusto since everything became so much more well defined to him. He mentally noted to properly thank Shisui Uchiha. Though the Uchiha had no say in where his eye went, Naruto was still grateful.

"How did you find this place Nii-san?! This place is freakin' amazing-" His sentence was cut off as he slammed face-first into the back of Itachi's billowing cloak. He scrunched his face in pain and held a hand to his bruised nose. As he was about yell out in pain, Itachi whirled around.

"From here on out, you will address me as sensei, nothing else. Understood?"

"Erm, sure _sensei_. When do we start training?"

"Soon."

"But why?!" Naruto whined, "I wanna start now!"

"You should never question your teacher about these matter."

"But I'm ready now sensei! I really am!"

Itachi sighed, "Fine, show me how much you've progressed."

The blonde jinchuuriki grinned, "I've improved a lot since you've been gone and I'll show you right now!" With his bold statement out in the open, Naruto rushed at the Uchiha with speeds that not even a chunin should have.

He pumped chakra into his leg to increase his speed and smirked when he saw Itachi's eyes widen as he started falling.

Time paused as Naruto blinked, _'falling?'_

Wait, what.

"Eh?" Ignoring the growing pain on his face, he blinked.

Suddenly his momentum was halted and his vision was stuffed by the rocky ground of the large cavern.

"This is why you must wait. Your body's hand-eye coordination has been completely degraded. Kakashi-sempai has also came across this experience after he obtained his eye."

Naruto suddenly sat up while sporting a prominent red mark on his forehead, "You mean the white-haired guy has a **Sharingan** implant too?!"

"Perhaps. I did not specify if his implanted eye had my clan's doujutsu much less if it contained any doujutsu at all."

"Does he?!"

"It is not my place to tell."

"Please Itach-nii- Erm, sensei!"

"No."

"Come on!"

"No."

"Awh come on, I barely know-"

Sounds of a **Shunshin (Body Flicker)** brought Naruto to an alert stance and saki-chan to a tensed crouch. However, after realizing who the intruder was, both Naruto and his dog relaxed, but kept a guarded look.

Kakashi eye-smiled, "Yo Minna (Everyone)!"

"Sempai." Itachi politely greeted.

Naruto eyed the man cautiously, but otherwise didn't provide any response. Saki-chan favored to maintain a low growl at the man.

The white-haired jounin ignored them and turned to the Uchiha, "Will you be leaving now Itachi?"

Itachi nodded and walked to his former ANBU captain and whispered something that Naruto couldn't even discern with his keen hearing senses. The Uchiha turned to young whiskered blonde, "Remember all that has been said." Then, in a flurry of pitch-black crows, the Uchiha disappeared.

Kakashi turned to his sensei's son with a cheerful façade.

"So Naruto, mind telling me on how you know about the SS-ranked secret of the Kyuubi?"

Naruto gulped.

"Uh, Kami told me?"

* * *

 **X Two Weeks Later X**

* * *

"One more round Naruto!" Kakashi called out as the white-haired man stomped the ground, successfully sending sizes of various pebbles into the air.

Initially, it had been a rocky start for Naruto. He didn't listen to the man at all. He supposed it was just a slight resentment of the man somewhat trying to take him away from his first teacher in Gai-sensei a while back in Konoha.

That, however, blew over quickly enough when the boy realized that he wasn't going anywhere and he couldn't get stronger on his own. He decided that he'd maintain a professional relationship with cycloptic man to further his strength. It also helped that the man saw him as Naruto and not the Kyuubi he _supposed_.

After a severe and long lecture of how dangerous it was to associate with the Kyuubi without further knowledge, training, and supervision, Kakashi had finally gotten to training Naruto. However, the jounin stressed that Naruto was not the Kyuubi; that he was simply a container, that he was still a _human_. After those words, Naruto somewhat found himself fond of the man, like another guardian.

Naruto yelled back in affirmative, "Hai Kakashi-sensei!" He stood several hundred feet away from the sky-rocketing pebbles with his eyes closed. When the pebbles reached the apex of their flight, the blonde opened both eyes and made a sudden and impressive dash to where the first pebble would fall.

It was one of many exercises that forced Naruto to get his hand-eye coordination up. Like Itachi said, the sudden clarity and foreseeing features of the **Sharingan** really messed with his body coordination. He was a super clumsy; he couldn't even place one foot in front of the other without face-planting.

So, he was tasked with various training to remove his uncoordinated clumsiness.

Take this task for example, Kakashi using a variation of **Doton** and **Futon** techniques sent pebbles of varying sizes into the air. Due to their size, and something about physics and gravity that Naruto blocked out, they fell down at different rates of speed at different locations..

His objective was to catch all of them before they were to hit the ground and then return them to Kakashi. Catching small things at high speeds whilst multitasking was what hand-eye coordination training was all about. Dashing speedily to the first point, Naruto caught the pebble between his fore fingers and instantly threw it swiftly towards the jounin whom caught it effortlessly.

The blonde repeated this action as he sped from spot to spot. He sighed in relief as he threw the last pebble towards his tutor-

His eyes widened as he heard the faint whistling of a light pebble he had evidently missed and-

 _ **Tap!**_

A pebble hit the ground.

"Maa maa, looks like you missed one Naruto-kun." Kakashi happily eye-smiled.

Naruto straightened up and smirked.

"No I didn't Kakashi-sensei, and _you_ know that."

Kakashi turned his head curiously, "Hmm? Whatever do you mean? Obviously, you weren't able to-"

"I saw you throw the extra pebble when I was finished with returning the original set of rocks. So technically, you cheated. And since you cheated, we're moving on to the next part of training, as per our agreement."

The jounin chuckled, "I'm surprised you caught that. it was the first time I did it during this exercise and I'm sure I did it discreetly…"

The whiskered blonde pointed toward his left eye, "The **Sharingan** is a pretty nice bonus to reflexes and sight." He stretched his limbs, "I think I'm all good in my coordination now."

Kakashi nodded his agreement, "I agree, I think it's time for the next step!"

Naruto rushed over in excitement. The blonde flailed his hands wildly as he spoke in an eager voice, "Yes! So what's next? Jutsus?! Fire jutsus are more cooler– oh! or lightning! Those are pretty cool too actually-"

"Chakra control!"

"Oh yeah! Chakra control would totally be badass too- wait! WHAT?! Why the hell do I have to-"

"The **Sharingan** ," Kakashi interrupted, "Provides heightened vision and heightened chakra control. It was thought that people who possessed the **Byakugan** and **Sharingan** were automatically born with near-perfect chakra control."

"See?! Why do I need to-"

"First off, you weren't born with the Sharingan and this thought held true only because no one ever believed a jinchuuriki should be in possession of a doujutsu. It was widely accepted that giving a jinchuuriki a doujutsu was too much power for an individual. Because of this," he stared at the boy, "No information was obtained in regards to the effect of a doujutsu had on a jinchuuriki. Do you follow thus far?"

Naruto nodded slowly, "I think so, so you're saying that no container ever had a doujutsu like me so we don't know the effect of a doujutsu combined with a jinchuuriki… but I feel as if my control is a bit better, I think."

Kakashi nodded, "My theory is that you have so much chakra, that not even the famous **Sharingan** could give you the excellent chakra control that any other shinobi that possessed a doujutsu would have."

"Hmm… I see. So, how are we starting the exercises today?"

"Naruto-kun, I know you know the **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** , but do you know its secret?"

The boy frowned, "That the memory returns to the user?"

The silver-haired jounin sported a surprised look at his answer before nodding, "Yes indeed; surprised you know that actually, but there is more to it than just that. So do you know?"

Naruto shrugged, "I dunno, that's all Gai-sensei told me."

The elder of the two sighed before shaking his head, "This training method is only unique to _you_. Said method can cut down years of training into a mere month. Months of training turn into days and days of training turn into seconds… The secret In addition to receiving memories of clones, you can also receive chakra-based experience from them as well. This means that-"

"-I can train on chakra-based exercises with my clones and get their experience?" Naruto nearly shouted. At Kakashi's nod, Naruto jumped high into the hair with exuberance, "HOLY SHIT, I'LL BE THE GREATEST SHINOBI IN NO TIME!"

The jounin looked over at the boy appraisingly, _'I have no doubt you will be one of the strongest to ever live…'_ said jounin cleared his throat, "Though, Naruto, you must realize that with your level of chakra, it will be even awhile for you before you get excellent control with the new training method."

In an instant, Naruto's demeanor changed into a more sullen one. Shoulders slumped, the boy moaned pitifully into his hands, "What! That is _so_ freaking laaaame!"

Kakashi shrugged, "Since you can only create a hundred shadow clones, it can't be helped."

"I still don't see why chakra-control is that important, I know I have a ton of chakra, I can _feel_ it. Even more than you… I understand why I need to be careful with how I spend my chakra."

Kakashi quirked an eyebrow, "It is widely known that Tsunade of the Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninjas) exhibits the perfect control of chakra. If she had your reserves, she'd be able to make all of your jutsus a hundreds time more effective." At the boy's awe-widened stare, Kakashi continued, "Now, more importantly, what did you mean by saying that you could _feel_ chakra?"

The child pursed his lips, "I dunno how to explain it, I can feel my own chakra and when I'm close enough to another person, I can feel and see their reserves too." Throughout his explanation, Naruto used wild hand gestures in a weird round-a-bout way to convey his message, as if the gestured explained everything that his words couldn't.

In response, the jounin nodded, "Interesting. Looks like you have the making of becoming a sensor-nin."

"Sensor-nin?"

"A shinobi who is capable of detecting others via chakra," Kakashi answered. Fearing that the boy might get too big of an ego, the silver-haired shinobi continued, "Though, it's not a for sure thing Naruto. You should be aware that at your stage, from your description, being a sensor is practically useless for now. Unless you can develop your skill to a proficient degree, you shouldn't rely on it."

Deflated, the blonde slumped.

"Don't worry Naruto! Since you can create a hundred clones, you'll be able to obtain proficiency in control, sensing and few other things."

Naruto looked up instantly, "If I can do more than that how long would it take?"

"Well, it would depend on how much you could make. Obviously, the more you can do, the faster everything will get done." He looked at the blonde, "However, that most definitely means you shouldn't try creating more clones than you're capable. I've read the reports and a safe amount of clones for you should be fifty clones." He expanded with his reasoning at the boy's confused face, "Though your limit is probably a hundred, based off of certain reports, fifty clones would be more efficient; quality over quantity."

"So hypothetically, if I can make half a thousand clones… how much would be efficient for training?"

"Hmm… hypothetically speaking, I would say around 300. BUT! Since you can't even hope to create half of a fraction of that amount-"

" **Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu (Mass Shadow Clone Technique)!** "

Massive plumes of smoke filled the volume of the large cavern. Kakashi quickly unveiled his **Sharingan** and both eyes widened in awe.

Roughly 300 **Kage Bunshins** of a certain blonde jinchuuriki were smiling smugly at him. Lifting his headband to use his **Sharingan** , the silver-haired jounin counted the amount of clones accurately; 277 **Kage Bunshins** were standing around idle, albeit in a rather proud fashion, in the cavern.

"Aha! So you do have the **Sharingan**!" Naruto exclaimed while pointing a finger accusingly at the silver-haired man's left eye.

Kakashi shrugged with a head tilt, "Yes, I know… I could've told you that if you simply asked..."

"There is no point in trying to deny it- wait," Naruto faltered, "What? You would have told me if I asked?!"

"Yep, why wouldn't I?" Kakashi curiously asked.

"Oh, uh, Itachi said something about not his place telling me about your eye…" Naruto admitted rather bashfully.

"Hmm…" Kakashi stared off into nothingness.

Naruto shifted uncomfortably as the awkward silence reigned on. Suddenly, Kakashi was in front of him, less than an inch from the whiskered boy's face.

Letting out a startled yelp, the blonde jumped back several feet at the sudden close proximity of the other **Sharingan** user.

"Oi! What's the big idea?!" Naruto shouted.

"Naruto, did Itachi say _anything_ else?"

The questioned child held a scrunched up face in obvious thought before lying.

"Nope! All he said was that his mission was done or something and yeah… he mentioned something about you'll be taking care of everything from here on out and..." Naruto furrowed his brows, trying to think if he could add anything else to his lie to make it more plausible, with nothing coming to mind, the boy reiterated his point once more, "Yep, that's all!"

Kakashi stared hard at the boy with a neutral gaze for what seemed like an eternity. A single bead of sweat dropped down the boy's forehead and said boy gulped nervously.

Just when it seemed like all hell was about to break loose, the adult of the two spoke, causing Naruto to flinch.

"Okay."

Expecting a rather volatile answer, Naruto cringed behind his hands before peeking out with a gaping expression, "'Okay'?! That's it?! Just 'okay'?! Just like that?! You believe me?"

Kakashi shrugged, "There's no reason I should disbelieve you... but, perhaps, if you remember something that you forgot to tell me, you will speak on it?"

Naruto nodded his head mutely.

Satisfied yet unsatisfied with the boy's answer, Kakashi mentally sighed; he was sure there were things that the boy was leaving out but there was nothing he could do that would make the young jinchuuriki tell him anything.

Well, he could torture him but that would probably be wrong.

Probably.

Kakashi saw the boy waiting expectantly for an explanation on how he obtained his eye no doubt. The jounin then pondered on how much of the truth he should let out. His eyes wandered lazily over to the face of the blonde and he was painstakingly made aware of how much the boy resembled his deceased best friend.

It was truly frightening how much of a resemblance Naruto had with Obito.

Just as Naruto was about to comment on the stare that the jounin was giving, The man began speaking.

"The Yondaime Hokage wasn't, obviously, always a Hokage. At one point, he was a jounin and for most jounins, it was common practice to take up a team of genins to train in tactics and leadership. I, along with two genins, was a part of his team."

Naruto's eyes widened. This man was a part of the legendary Yondaime's cell? He always heard about them throughout the lectures of the academy though what he heard was brief due to the fact he was always getting kicked or skipping class in favor of pulling off one of his infamous pranks.

He tried desperately on recalling any piece of information on the team of his idol, The Fourth, to no avail. Kakashi noted the effect of his words on the boy before continuing.

"My teammate was also an Uchiha. Due to some… unfortunate circumstances, I lost an eye and my teammate decided to transfer the **Sharingan** over to me before he passed."

Despite the obvious tragedy, Naruto couldn't help himself from being eager for more of the tale. He waited expectantly once more for several minutes before it was obvious that the jounin wasn't going to continue his story.

"That's it?!" Naruto cried out.

Kakashi eye-smiled at the child, "Yup."

Naruto fell over in disbelief before jumping back up. "BUT! BUT! THE DETAILS! WHAT ABOUT THE DETAILS?!"

" **BARK! BARK BARK!** "

Apparenty Saki-chan agreed.

"Classified."

"Grr… fine! Lets get training then!" Naruto said irritably.

"Hmm… perhaps you should have some clones fetch leaves from outside." Kakashi continued eye-smiling at the blonde before adding, "You're more than welcomed to join them in their scavenging."

Muttering a quick, "Stupid silver-haired haired jounins and their dumb eye-smiles," before mentally commanding all of his clones to retrieve the mentioned greenery. He himself walked outside with a huff; his curiosity was peeved by the man's unfinished tale and the continuous eye-smile the man gave him frustrated the boy to no end.

"Come on Saki-chan! Let's go get some leaves, you can have a potty break too."

After several hours of compiling a nice and mountain sized pile of leaves inside the cavern, Kakashi called out a halt.

"That's enough Naruto!" Kakashi shouted, "Now come over here so I can show you what you're doing next."

Naruto grumbled and mumbled rebellious and insulting phrases all the while walking over to the jounin.

Choosing to ignore the boy's dark mutterings, Kakashi spoke with his patented eye-smile. "This task is what you'd be learning if you were still at the academy! Now, in this exercise, you'll be taking a leaf and keep it afloat upon your forehead."

Naruto scoffed and took a leaf and placed it on his forehead using a finger to hold the greenery with a scowl on his face, "I don't see how this is gonna make my chakra better at all."

Naruto noticed that Kakashi's eye smile looked the same as it would any other second of the day… yet it somewhat contained an air of haughtiness.

"Now hold it in the air one inch from your forehead… and do it without any help."

Naruto dropped the leaf in surprise.

"AND HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?!"

Naruto finally found some emotion show itself in Kakashi's smirk. The elder **Sharingan** user spoke gleefully.

"Magic."

Naruto groaned at the response and shuffled off towards the pile of leaves. Grabbing one, he stared at it intently as if an intense observance would yield answers.

Kakashi also observed the boy's action amusingly before he noticed something.

"Hm… Saki-chan was it?" The puppy had not moved a single inch from her spot and nervously looked at the older man. Kakashi knew the puppy was a ninken so that meant that the canine could also train.

"You go work on this too."

Naruto smirked when he felt his puppy trudge grudgingly towards him and plopped next to him, he couldn't help but taunt his puppy a bit, "Ha Saki-chan! Looks like were in this together!"

In response, the puppy smiled viciously before sinking her teeth into the blonde.

"OW! MOTHER OF ALL FUC-"

* * *

 **X Three Weeks Later X**

* * *

Naruto halted his Taijutsu-only spar with Kakashi.

"Ne Kakashi-sensei, I know that we won't be returning to Konoha for a long time but you think I can get a reference or an estimate as to when we'd be returning?"

Kakashi snorted with amusement; he had given the boy a dictionary, despite Naruto's protest of him being 'good enough', so that the boy didn't sound like such a simpleton with his words all the time. Ever since, the boy had been slowly, but surely, incorporating bigger and slightly more complex words into his everyday conversation.

"Hm… I suppose in three years perhaps?"

Naruto spoke in an aghast tone, "What?!" the blonde nearly shouted his next words, "But what about graduation?! The exam is in two years!"

"Actually," Kakashi began correcting, "Due to the massacre, the exam has moved up an additional year so instead of this year's academy genins being the standard age of twelve, they'll be thirteen. Makes sense?"

Naruto sat back down with a thoughtful expression, "So that means I have a little under three years to train? Awesome…"

The elder **Sharingan** user nodded, "It will be a most fruitful time for your training to bear results; especially since you have the **Kage Bunshin** method to aide you…" Kakashi looked at the hundreds of clones around them practicing various chakra-control exercises that were more sophisticated than what Naruto was currently doing. The puppy's chakra reserves were sizable for its size but it was exponentially smaller than Naruto's.

This notion however, displeased and pleased Naruto at the same time. It wasn't jealousy per se, it was just that he was happy that his dog was making progress whereas he himself couldn't progress at the rate that his partner was excelling at. There was no envy in his feelings, just a sense of self-disappointment that even with his clones, his chakra control wasn't as good as Saki-chan's.

"Naruto, I know what you're thinking,

Determination lit up in Naruto's eyes as the boy resumed the spar with renewed vigor, causing Kakashi to flinch at the sudden ferocity. It seemed as if the boy's determination renewed all the shadow clones with a new gusto. Yells and encouraging grunts were heard throughout the cavern as the clones resumed their exercises.

Taijutsu was normally something Naruto did on his own but luckily for him, Kakashi conveniently knew **Goken (Iron Fist)** , though the man didn't consider himself a master, he was still quite proficient in the style Gai created.

At first, Naruto had mixed feelings when Kakashi approached him and suggested a spar instead of the boy just practicing the intermediate katas of **Goken**. Imagine the great surprise and anger that sported on the blonde's face when the elder man took up the same stance as him.

At first, Naruto dropped his hands and stared at the man owlishly.

"What are you doing?"

"Sparring." Kakashi innocently replied.

"I know that," Naruto growled. "What are you doing in _that_ stance?"

"Oh, this? It's a Taijutsu style I know pretty well… now enough talking, and attack!"

That was exactly how the conversation had started when they first sparred. Of course, it ended in a loss at Naruto's end. His loss partially stemmed from the fact that Naruto attacked in rage; seeing his original sensei's style that was special to him and Naruto drove the blonde into blind anger. This factor cause Naruto rush and lose his cool.

This, ultimately led to his first defeat at his new sensei.

Well, that and the fact that Kakashi was way more experienced in fighting than Naruto was.

Panting at the beat down he received moments ago, he asked from ground hew as lying on, "Tell me," _**Pant**_. "Did you," _**Pant**_. "Steal the style with your doujutsu?"

Kakashi squatted in front of the boy with that same old eye-smile, "And if I did steal it? What are you going to do- Whoa!" Kakashi jumped out the way just as Naruto sent a kick sailing towards his face.

The boy jumped with a new set of energy and a snarl on his face, " **Sharingan** be damned, you had no right stealing Gai-sensei's technique! I know for a fact that Gai-sensei worked _hard_ for his skills."

Kakashi admired the boy's ethics behind his words with mental approval. However he didn't have much time to admire the boy's moral conduct because he felt a presence behind him.

' _His shadow clones!'_

Naruto smirked; did the jounin really think that he wouldn't use every advantage he had to defeat the older man? He currently had hundreds of clones surrounding him that was practicing chakra control.

Why not utilize them?

It seemed, however, that even hundreds of persons who were in the intermediate stage of **Goken** had no chance against a seasoned vet like Kakashi. What bothered Naruto was the fact that the man was clearing his clones with strictly Taijutsu. In particular, with the **Goken** stance and that stance only.

When they finally were down to the original, Naruto gritted his teeth in obvious annoyance, it was almost as if **Kage Bunshins** were useless against the higher-tiered ninjas.

The technique was literally useless in direct combat. He briefly thought that he would have to formulate some methods that would help him utilize the kinjutsu to be of any efficiency when he had some time.

As his shadow clones were getting decimated, Naruto ran at full speed with intentions of headbutting the jounin. It was probably a dumb idea but he was hoping his speed and the directness of the attack coupled with his remaining clones distracting him would catch the man off guard.

Unfortunately, not even his impressive speed for an academy student could catch the man off guard. Kakashi must've kept an eye on him the whole time he fought his clones because the man sidestepped the projectile that was Naruto.

Kakashi called out in a scathingly bored voice, "Good idea of using your head, but perhaps you could not take to that phrase literally ne? Perhaps throwing kunais or shurikens might've been the better option-

"I don't have any kunais or shuriken!" Naruto glowered.

"And why is that?!" Kakashi taunted, "Perhaps if you were serious about being a ninja like I told you before-"

"ARRRGH!" Naruto charged, foregoing any form of tactics he was beginning to think about.

Kakashi sighed and prepped a hand to knock the boy into next week.

And knocked the boy into next week it did.

Naruto recalled when Kakashi suddenly upped his speed and landed a vicious right hook to his temple.

When he awoke, Kakashi had explained and convinced, with great difficulty, to Naruto that Gai had actually taught him the **Goken** when they were both younger as a thank you for always supporting the Taijutsu specialist when no one else did.

So here Naruto was, getting lessons and tips on the **Goken** , though it was by proxy from Kakashi-sensei instead of Gai-sensei, it worked just fine for him.

Naruto dodged a low sweeping kick by jumping back but as soon as he landed, he was suddenly tossed skywards as Kakashi sent an uppercut into his gut. Spit mixed with light blood were coughed out as the jounin jumped back and waited patiently for a few moments before speaking.

"Come on Naruto, The real enemy wont wait for you."

The jinchuuriki wiped the trailing blood that was leaking from his mouth. Spitting the mixture of saliva and blood off to the side, the blonde straightened up and growled.

"Come on then!"

* * *

 **X One Week Later X**

* * *

Kakashi returned to the cavern with several hares, mushrooms, and berries in hand. The clones were in the exact same position Kakashi had left them in. Currently, the mass of blondes in an orange jumpsuit were all still in the lotus position with a leaf on each of their forehead.

Eyeing the attire critically, Kakashi turned to the real Naruto who was currently coated in a sheen of sweat.

"Did I ever tell you need a new wardrobe?" Kakashi eye-smiled.

Naruto grunted in response in favor of keeping track of the amount of sit ups he had already done. As he completed his five-hundredth sit up, he sprawled flat backwards with a pained gasp. He groaned at the strain his abdomen was feeling.

Deciding to respond now to his sensei's rhetorical question.

"Yes, yes you did. In fact, this is probably your umpteenth time mentioning I need to re-vamp my style."

"And why don't you change?"

Naruto barked a mental order to a couple of clones to come help him up. The closest clones came and hooked their arms underneath the original's armpits begrudgingly as he responded to Kakashi.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because we're in the middle of god knows where. Perhaps I should buy my clothes from the vendor over in that empty corner? Oh wait, there's no one here- Ow! Dammit! Gently!" Naruto scolded as the clones roughly hoisted him up.

Kakashi smirked, "Alright, pushups next!"

Naruto let out another pained groan as he went into position.

* * *

 **X One Week Later X**

* * *

Naruto looked at the silver-haired jounin in awe and befuddlement. Naruto and Kakashi stood at a standstill as Naruto continued staring dumbfounded at his shinobi tutor.

The blonde finally spoke.

"How?"

Kakashi eye-smiled, "Figure it out."

"I don't understand!" Naruto crossed his arms. The jinchuuriki leaned forward and focused his **Sharingan** on the base of Kakashi's feet.

Currently, the elder shinobi was standing on water.

 _Standing_.

Naruto understood that ninjas were capable of some amazing feats so he shouldn't have been amazed by the fact that Kakashi could stand on water but… It did.

The child tilted his head in curiosity at the ever-slight fluctuation of the thin layer of chakra that encompassed the base of Kakashi's feet. With his enhanced vision, he was able to see that the chakra was constantly shaping itself to match the rippling water underneath.

The amount of chakra-control to constantly stay upon the water baffled him. How was Kakashi able to control his somewhat large reserves to that precision?

Naruto shook his head; he himself had about four times the reserves the jounin had so this would be more difficult than it would have for anyone else. Walking on water is a skill that Naruto wanted; at first, it was simply because it looked so cool. But, as he gave more thought on the skill, he realized that he could pull off a lot of things in terms of practicality in a fight.

This all started roughly an hour ago. Naruto said he wanted to move on from chakra-controlling exercises due to the fact that he could now keep the leaves afloat on his head without much trouble.

Naruto yelled in victory when Kakashi agreed with him and said they would begin after a Taijutsu spar. It started off like any other spar they did but then the masked bastard jumped back unto where he was standing on the water.

Deciding that staring at his teacher in awe wouldn't get him anywhere, Naruto slowly edged to the border of the land that met the water. He took a calming breath and focused the chakra on his feet.

Taking one deep breath, Naruto hobbled unto the water unsteadily. Naruto slowly grinned when he stayed afloat with nothing but his feet.

"Kakashi-sensei! Look! I can-"

 _ **SPLASH!**_

Naruto's head slowly came up with a scowl on his face.

Kakashi whistled as he walked back onto shore.

"Maybe next time you can get it."

* * *

 **X Two Weeks Later X**

* * *

Sounds of chirping birds surrounded a deer grazing the grass peacefully. A slight wind raked through the meadow the deer was in gently. The deer raised his head in an alarmed fashion. Body tensed, the deer peered around its surrounds carefully for several long minutes before relaxing. The deer slowly lowered his head when-

 _ **SLICK!**_

The deer fell dead as a kunai ripped cleanly through its temple and thudded dully into the grass.

Hidden amongst the leaves was a crouching blonde camouflaged so well not a single entity the vicinity could sense him. Said blonde let out a breath that blew his bangs up skywards ever so slightly as he stood up to walk over to the now dead animal.

He knelt by the head of the deer and closed its eyes as he offered a blessing and thanks to the animal. Once he had learned the water-walking exercise to an extent where he could run across the body of water that surrounded his training cavern, Kakashi had tasked him with hunting for their food.

Initially it had been tough to hunt and kill the animals but Kakashi drilled into him that it needed to be done. There was a balance in the world and every living organism were a part of it. This was his third time hunting for their food alone and he still didn't like the feeling of murdering an innocent animal.

He looked towards the direction the cavern he had been spending his time in and looked the opposite way towards whatever else destination. Initially, he played with the idea of running back to Konoha.

But… what for?

To be honest, he liked being away from the villagers. Perhaps he could convince Kakashi by the end of the trip. The only thing he truly had in the village was Ichiraku Ramen and the Jiji.

He pushed those thoughts aside and retrieved the kunai that he had thrown earlier and began skinning the animal for the parts necessary and nothing more. He had instilled a code of not taking in anything in excess when it came to hunting.

He expanded his senses and felt his nearby clones collecting various mushrooms, vegetables, and berries. He felt another form, which he identified as his furred partner, coming closer to his location.

Saki trotted happily into the clearing a very much dead hare in her mouth. She trotted over to where Naruto was skinning the animal and dropped the mountain hare at his feet. The canine trotted around the deer while observing every detail before coming to a stop. Saki faced Naruto and gave him an approving nod that Naruto took as 'Good catch, human.'

His dog apparently didn't feel as guilty as Naruto when it came to hunting.

Naruto shook his head with a small smile and summoned another **Kage Bunshin** and set that clone to skin the hare.

* * *

 **X Several Weeks Later X**

* * *

"THREE WEEKS?!" Naruto shouted with indignant anger.

Kakashi sighed, "That's at the latest Naruto. I may come back in a couple weeks. Who knows, maybe this summons will only take a day…"

"Fat chance," Naruto muttered. They had received a scroll via toad, which by the way was completely weird, that Kakashi wouldn't let Naruto read. But the gist of the message was that Kakashi was to return to Konoha for an emergency.

Naruto didn't mind being alone for a bit but the main thing that gnawing at him was the chance that Kakashi wouldn't return at all. One thing Naruto needed was guidance in his life and that a constant in his life.

Jiji, Iruka-sensei, Gai-sensei, Itachi, Kakashi-sensei; one of them was always there for him. Kakashi, sensing the worry of the child spoke in a soft and confident voice.

"Don't worry Naruto, I _will_ return, and that's a promise and that's because…" Kakashi trailed off.

"Those who break the rules are scum. But those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." Naruto spoke lowly.

Kakashi simply ruffled the mop of blonde hair before his hands were slapped away childishly.

"See ya later Naruto!" Kakashi cheerfully waved as he left. The silver-haired jounin paused and dug an item out of his pocket, "Before I forget, here's your and Saki-chan's training regimen for the next three weeks." He tossed a scroll to the cursing boy and **Shunshin'd** out the cavern.

* * *

 **X One Day Later X**

* * *

Naruto dodged his puppy's lunge with a sidestep and grabbed the canine's hind leg and launched the dog back in the direction it came from towards the wall with a whirlwind-body throw.

Saki, however, landed on all fours neatly. Partially cause her reaction and instincts were excellent and partially because Naruto didn't use his full power. Saki had started a sprint when Naruto held his hand up. Both the sparring participant's bodies tensed. Naruto held a hand sign up and Saki immediately ran to his side and prepared for whatever her master called her for.

As the source of what caused Naruto and Saki to stop sparring came closer, both shinobi and ninken relaxed.

Naruto rested his hands on his shaky knees from the pressure he felt of dealing with a possible imminent danger. The whiskered boy blew out with relief.

"I was wondering when you were gonna come…" He looked up into the raven-haired person's eyes.

"Itachi."

* * *

 **X**

* * *

 **A/N: My two new stories! Check em out?**

 _ **To Rise Again:**_ **At the age of six, an extreme prodigy arose to display himself to those in the Elemental Nations. One smarter than a Nara, one faster than the famous Maito, one who's jutsu repertoire matched that of Kakashi of the Sharingan. By the age of ten, he turned his headband in. GeniusNaruto! CoolNaruto! OPNaruto! Pairing Undecided.**

 _ **The Genocide's Testimony**_ _ **:**_ **The Kyuubi No Kitsune was given to the Land Of Whirlpools instead of Konoha. Follow Naruto, a child of Uzushiogakure whom is aspiring to be a shinobi of his mother's caliber. However, one fateful night spins Naruto's life out of control. MokutonNaruto! SmartNaruto! NarutoXHarem**

 **If you like the stories, I currently have an open poll as to which one I should start updating next!**

 **Vote and review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I was rereading the first few chapters and realized that I really didn't like the start. This is a short chapter because~**

…

…

…

…

…

…

 **I'm going to rewrite this story from the ground up.**

 **Sort of.**

 **Well, the first few chapters especially, I'll see if any modifications comes up. Basically, the intro was just super shitty IMO. i know i'm not that good of a writer but i think i can improve the first few chapters. the premise will remain the same, just a different way about it.**

 **HOWEVER, I HAVE** _ **NEW**_ **STORIES OUT!**

 **Here are a brief synopsis for each story that are new and in its infancy.**

 _ **To Rise Again (personal favorite):**_ **At the age of nine, an extreme prodigy arose to show himself to those in the Elemental Nations. One smarter than a Nara, one faster than the famous Maito, one who's jutsu repertoire matched that of Kakashi of the Sharingan. By the age of ten, he turned his headband in.**

 _ **The Genocide's Testimony:**_ **Witnessing a clan massacre is terrible; however, sometimes, there are much worse fates. Darker!Naruto! Mokuton!Naruto!**

 _ **A Grimm Tail:**_ **NarutoXRwby crossover. In a world consumed and overrun with darkness, one must always make a choice: to be the prey or the predator. Unfortunately, one doesn't always get to pick. Pairing: NaruXHarem, pairing undecided for some parts (Pyrrah is for sure in).**

 _ **The Guardian of Eden:**_ **A NarutoXHighschoolDxD crossover: She had seen his face for the briefest of seconds. Eyes as clear as the blue skies that reflected pain and sorrow deeper than the ocean. There was no mistake about it, if she didn't hurry to him, he would die. Pairing: NarutoXRias,Akeno,Gabriel,Koneko. IsseiXAsia**

* * *

"Speech"

' _thought'_

" **Jutsu: in use** **"**

' _ **Kyuubi/Summon thought'**_

" **Kyuubi/Summon speech"**

* * *

 **Disclaimer:Apply standard disclaimer here**

* * *

 **Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself**

 **Chapter 9**

* * *

Naruto adjusted the sleeping pup in his coat as he walked alongside a taller companion.

"So," Naruto glanced at Itachi, "where are we going?"

"Does it matter?"

Naruto sighed. For the better part of the day, they have been walking towards an undisclosed location. He glanced at the Uchiha who was under the **henge (Transformation)** of what seemed to be a non-descript civilian. Naruto himself was **henge'd** into a boy that looked nearly identical but with brown hair and no whiskers.

"Can we go any faster?"

Itachi shrugged, "There's no rush."

"But what about my training?!"

"There are many leaves around."

"I'm already doing that!" Naruto retorted snappishly, knowing that the elder was implying that he practices more of the chakra-controlling exercise.

And it was true; Naruto now had a near mastery over that particular exercise. He could float the leaf along his whole body with just his chakra… though it didn't last long, it was still an impressive feat.

"Keep doing it then."

The blonde threw his hands up in exasperation and began grumbling to himself.

"Stupid emo-temes."

Itachi's eye twitched.

"Pink-eyed motherfu-"

"Naruto."

"What!? It's true-"

"We're here."

Naruto glanced around and saw the same old trees. He rounded on the Uchiha.

"There's nothing different!"

Itachi's lip's twitched in amusement.

"I know."

The jinchuuriki looked at the traitorous-labeled shinobi with a deadpanned stare that matched the Uchiha's own.

"Are you kidding me?"

…

"Yes."

"Are you being serious?"

"But of course."

Now Naruto was slightly confused.

"So are we here?"

"If you're asking where we're at, then yes, we are indeed _here_. But then again, one is always in the here."

"So we're not at our intended destination." Naruto stated flatly

"Correct."

"So you're telling me you _actually_ made a joke?"

Itachi frowned.

"May I at least ask what you're going to be teaching me?"

"Hmm… I suppose, what has Kakashi been teaching you?"

"Chakra-control exercises, Taijutsu, and conditioning." The blonde pouted, "But I wanted Ninjutsu… can you teach me Ninjutsu?!"

Itachi mentally nodded to himself. He expected Kakashi to teach those aspects and only those. This, however, was perfect; now he could help Naruto focus on the **Sharingan** and perhaps some jutsus depending on his affinity.

But first, he decided to mess with his little charge.

"I will not be teaching you Ninjutsu."

Naruto deflated noticeably before bemoaning, "Damnit! Why isn't anyone willing to teach me what I want to know?"

"That's obvious." Itachi stated simply.

Naruto looked up suspiciously at the Uchiha, "And May I ask what that would be?"

"You don't know what you want."

"I WANT SOME BADASS TECHNIQUES!" Naruto shouted.

"Hn."

God, this man was even more frustrating than Kakashi.

Itachi let out some slight rapid exhales that resembled a slight chuckle as he continued on the trek to where they were going, all the while Naruto complaining.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at his village leader.

"I was aware that I'd only be away from my objective-"

Naruto.

"-for three to four weeks?" he stared at the assignment in his hand, "This seems as if it would take more than several months."

Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a puff of smoke and leaned back in his chair.

"Your assignment will be taken care of. Now, normally, the length of the mission for any team of normal jounins would take years. However, you will be accompanied by several skillful shinobis."

Kakashi shook his head defiantly. "Hokage-sama, with all due respect, the reason I took my last mission was to see that it comes out a success. How I am supposed to complete my objective if there's nothing or no one to be guide-"

"I know what I am doing Hatake." The Hokage's eyes glinted seriously. "Trust in your leader."

Kakashi was about to fire off another protest when-

" **DYNAMIC ENTRY!** "

Kakashi sighed; he was hoping to avoid Gai because he knew that his bushy-haired rival would ask non-stop questions about Naruto.

"KAKASHI! MY DEAR RIVAL! EXPLAIN TO ME WHY MY STUDENT IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND-"

"Gai," Hiruzen interrupted sternly.

"Oh! Forgive me Hokage-sama! That was most unyouthful of me to interrupt you! HOWEVER!" The eccentric jounin wheeled towards Kakashi, "I WOULD STILL LIKE TO KNOW WHERE MY DEAR NAR-"

The village leader held a hand up, "Enough." It was best to stop the eccentric man in his tracks before he became too caught up in his whirlwind of crazy logic.

Kakashi decided to ask a question.

"Is it just me and Gai? I don't think me and him warrant a strong enough team. though our chemistry and powers are elite, I don't personally believe that we'd be the most well-equipped for this mission."

Gai took on a mock-wounded look as he crouched in obvious depression, "Oh Kakashi-kun! You hurt me so! You don't believe the power of our youth could overcome the adversity of the mission?!"

"Yes."

"YOU TRULY BELIEVE WE CANNOT OVERCOME THIS OBSTACLE?!"

The Hokage's eye twitched in irritation.

"That's what I just said." Kakashi deadpanned.

 _ **CRASH!**_

Shattered glass littered the floor.

"THEN YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE ANY FEAR! FOR THE GREAT AND UNDENIABLY SEXY AND CHARISMATIC SAGE OF MT. MYOBOKU IS HERE!"

Gai brought out a notepad and began furiously scribbling notes, "Entrance through hokage window is most youthful…"

The third Hokage pinched his nose and tried taking deep breaths in hopes of calming himself.

Kakashi immediately held out an expectant hand from the toad sage.

Jiraiya shook his head with amusement, "Nope, the next book isn't ready yet."

Now it was the silver-haired jounin's turn to crouch in a depressed slump as he drew imaginary circled on the floor with his finger. "I want my icha icha…"

The green-clad man decided to add his two cents.

"JIRAIYA-SAMA! THAT SERIES YOU WRITE IS THE PINNACLE OF UNYOUTH! HOW COULD A SHINOBI THAT IS OF YOUR CALIBER CATER TO THOSE OF THE-"

"ENOUGH!" The shinobi that earned the name of 'The God of Shinobi' stood and slammed his hands on his desk. Everyone froze in their track and the third Hokage continued speaking in a strict and irritated voice, "Now, you three and one more will be taking this mission. The fourth member of the cell should be coming in any moment now-"

 _ **Knock! Knock!**_

"That should be her."

At the sight of their fourth teammate, Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Gai paled noticeably.

"Hello pups."

Inuzuka Tsume grinned in a feral manner.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

"Where are we?!" Naruto asked in amazement as Saki sniffed around curiously.

"An old Uchiha compound that dates back to the Clan Warring Era." Itachi said as he warily eyed the canine.

"We're training here?" Naruto asked incredulously.

Itachi did not respond immediately, he was more in favor of staring at the little furred beast intently, ensuring that the little four-legged mammal didn't urinate on this ancient compound.

The compound was nearly empty in its entirety. The wood flooring looked as if it was made from the Black Walnut trees around home.

Having no friends let Naruto familiarize with nature often. There was also many times in which the boy opted to spend time outside in nature rather than his home. Most times it was because paranoia prevented him from stepping inside home; however, on warm summer nights, he loved gazing at the stars above.

The boy's eyes raked across the rest of the room and he frowned, "This building is nearly empty." The structure was nearly primitive in its entirety; the walls were made of stone as was the ceiling and the only lighting that was provided was by the candles, giving the inner surroundings a dim and ominous vibe.

All in all, it was depressing in here.

"Indeed."

"Wait," He looked at the Uchiha with suspicion, "You're not kidding around are you? We're _actually_ going to train here, right?"

"Yes." The monotonous voice responded. "I suspect we will have nearly a month, perhaps more, to train."

"How do you know how much time we have?!" the whiskered blonde nearly interrogated.

"I have my ways."

Growing slightly frustrated, Naruto angrily demanded, "Agh! Whatever! Let's start training now!"

Both user's **Sharingan** blazed to life as Itachi agreed.

"Lets."

Naruto rushed towards the Uchiha in a blur.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

"Agh! What the hell was that?!" Naruto sat up and glared at Itachi.

"Genjutsu."

"Bullshit! When did you cast your seals?!"

The raven-haired shinobi tilted his head. "There was no need for me to, making eye contact with my **Sharingan** active allows me to cast genjutsu upon you."

Naruto stood up and readied his stance again. "Again!"

"Perhaps, after our training we can spar once more."

The child scratched his head. "Aren't we training right now?"

"No, you simply attacked me, assuming that training was a spar between us."

"No way-" The blonde paused. "Ah… I do remember that… sorry." Naruto apologized with a guilty look.

Itachi nodded. "It is fine." He dug his hand around his robe and procured a small piece of paper. He swung his arms and the piece of paper flew straight towards Naruto at an alarming speed. The blonde knew if he didn't have his **Sharingan** present, he wouldn't have been able to catch, and much less _see_ the parchment and would have instead opted to dodge the piece of paper and allow it to fly straight past him.

But he _did_ have the **Sharingan** , so he deftly caught it between two fingers and held it as far away as possible with a slight cringe; He half-expected it to explode but after several moments of nothing happening, he relaxed and examined it, noticed nothing too particularly special about it.

"Channel chakra into it."

He knew better now than to question the Uchiha in anything.

Thus, he channeled chakra into the piece of paper and saw an immediate crumple. He yelped when the paper actually sent _jolts_ of static up his arms. He threw the piece of paper in the air as it shredded itself into tiny pieces before burning up into scattered ashes.

He subconsciously noted that the jolts from the paper weren't painful in the slightest.

"Whoa, what the hell was that?!"

"A piece of paper."

"But it literally shocked my arms numb and ripped itself into shreds!"

"Did it?"

"Yes! I _know_ you saw it!"

"Perhaps."

Naruto stomped his foot in agitation.

"Tell me now!"

Itachi smirked.

"No."

In agitation, the blonde stomped a foot down as his dog followed with a bark. "But why?!"

The Uchiha stared at Saki with disinterest for several long moments. Both Naruto and the canine began getting nervous. Naruto stepped in front of his dog protectively. "Why are you staring at her like that?!" the blonde pointed an accusing finger, "Don't do anything to her you creep-"

"You have been neglecting her training Naruto."

"What?!" Naruto hollered in a defensive tone. "How the hell has her training been neglected?!" The boy continued angrily. "She's been conditioning and doing chakra-control exercises-"

The S-ranked nin waved him off. "That is more than fine, however, have you two been working in tandem?" At Naruto's slight frown, Itachi continued speaking. "The Inuzukas fight alongside with their canine companions. They're Taijutsu and Ninjutsu are always in tandem with one another. Since you are going to become an offensive shinobi, this will be imperative to keeping her alive; especially if you care for her."

Naruto stared at his dog with a sad frown. "I wanted her to wait a little bit longer… she's just a puppy."

"Hypocrisy."

A shocked visage appeared on Naruto's face before it turned into a heated anger. "What are you on about!?"

"You are but a child, yet you worry putting your companion through combat training because of her age? That," He poked Naruto hard in the chest, "is the very example of a hypocrite. There is no doubt that she is in the same position as you; an adolescent that only wishes to get stronger."

The anger that adorned the jinchuuriki's face retreated back into shock. He stared at Saki as she looked at him with pleading eyes, conveying the message.

 _Let us be strong together._

Slowly, a large smile tugged at the corner of Naruto's lip as he faced Itachi with a determined pair of eyes.

" _We're_ ready."

* * *

 **X Ten Days Later X**

* * *

"Your chemistry has improved greatly, though you two are still weak beyond measures."

Naruto tried flipping the Uchiha off but didn't even have the energy to perform that. He settled for moaning in pain at his tender and sore body.

As his temporary charge lied on the ground panting alongside Saki, who was in a similar state from the vicious training cycle the Uchiha had just put them through, Itachi cleared his throat.

"I will be gone for four nights; you will learn everything in this scroll, which I personally wrote up for you based off my observations thus far." Itachi threw a scroll that was tied with a red string.

"Scavenge your own food, maintain your diet, do not idle away from your training Naruto. If you do not master everything in that scroll by the time I return, you shall forfeit your rights to continue under my tutelage."

Naruto barely grunted in response; too fatigued from the beating he and Saki- chan had just taken.

The Uchiha continued speaking. "Do not worry about a time limit as to when you are to return to Kakashi-san. His mission will most likely be extended; considering what and whom it is involving. As for my temporary disappearance, chalk it up from what I've told you before."

Naruto raised an eyebrow as the man disappeared in a **Shunshin**. _'More than likely a mission from that organization he's a part of.'_

Naruto swept Saki-chan into a cuddle and opted for a nap.

' _We'll peek inside the scroll after a break…'_ Naruto yawned. _'And by break… I mean an… eight hour… nap…'_ With those thoughts, the jinchuuriki drifted off into unconsciousness.

* * *

 **X Three Nights Later X**

* * *

Naruto woke up with a bleariness that he hasn't experienced in a long time. He groaned as he stood up to stretch. Saki desperately tried clinging to the last remnants of sleep as she curled inwards tightly, ears tucked over her eyes.

Naruto grinned as he prodded her gently with his foot. "Come on Saki-chan, it's time to train, again."

He briefly looked at the opened and abused scroll Itachi had left him with and strolled past it. Though Itachi said that he wouldn't teach him any Ninjutsu, the scroll that he had given to Naruto proved otherwise.

The two techniques that were given to Naruto took little time for him to learn. In fact, one of the techniques inspired something Naruto was beginning to create; though he didn't know if it had been done before, it was going to improve his battle capability a hundred fold.

He smiled at the thought.

Saki-chan stood up dutifully to follow after her master but soon fell back to a deep slumber. Naruto chuckled.

"Okay Saki-chan, you stay and I'll go get us breakfast!"

The canine let out a little noise that was a cross between a purr and a grunt.

' _How graceful.'_ Naruto mentally snorted as he strolled toward the entrance of the compound. The jinchuuriki kneeled near the entrance and summoned a few shadow clones. He ordered the clones to **Henge** into various wildlife animals they had seen on the way to the compound and scout for any hostiles nearby.

Nodding, the clones **Henge'd** into boars, anacondas, and rather large rabbits. Naruto frowned at the large rabbits; they were twice the size of the normal rabbits. He stared at the pseudo-rabbits. "What the hell is that?! no one's going to believe that a rabbit of that size- Oi! Wait! Don't run off before I can tell you- and… there they go…"

The 'rabbits' ran off.

Naruto pouted as he sat down and waited for his clones to dispel. "Freakin' rude asses…" he waited patiently, knowing that it would only take a few minutes before the clones dispersed into thin air and give him the knowledge. Naruto felt an influx of information roughly two minutes later.

It seemed barely a moment later when Naruto woke with a start, launching the sleeping pup off his chest unto the floor. Saki yelped and made a wild panicked motion with her paws, trying to gather herself but failing miserably.

The furred mammal sent its owner a glare until she noticed the state of disarray he was in. Saki could smell the sweat and fear rolling off the boy as he clutched a clump of his own hair. Saki noticed a crazed look in his eyes as he swung his head around wildly.

"N-No!" Naruto cried out with great anguish. He slammed his head against the ground as he downed himself into a kneeling position. "G-G-Get away sensei!"

Saki didn't understand. Sensei?

What in the world was he dreaming about? Saki shook her head to right herself. Her guardian was in distress and from what she could discern, he wasn't all there right now. She set her jaw and a little growl erupted from her as she began a full sprint to him.

When she got within several meters of her owner, she launched herself and head butted him right in the sternum.

A rushed, pained, and surprised gasp left the mouth of the blonde jinchuuriki.

After recovering his breath, alongside with his actual conscience, Naruto remained on the ground lying down with his eyes closed, trying to appease the sense of dread and fear inside of his body from the terrible nightmare he just had. Saki tentatively walked over and peeked at her master's face before giving him a consoling lick on the face.

Despite the negative feelings coursing through his being, Naruto felt a little smile form on his face as he cracked his non-doujutsu affected eye open.

"Thank you Saki-chan…"

In response, the boy's companion mewled softly, pressing herself closer to his whiskered cheek. She however, brought her face up and furrowed her dark brows.

 _ **Bark!**_

Naruto winced at the sound of his companion canine in such a close proximity… right next to his sensitive ears. He, however, ignored her as he gently applied pressure to his **Sharingan** wielding eye with the palm of his hand. There was a massive flow of chakra that was circulating in and around his eye, so much, in fact, that it was beginning to sting a bit. He tried cutting the connection off but it was in vain, for the influx of chakra was too ramped and wild to be controlled.

He took deep breaths and tried taming the flow, it eased the pain a little bit but the pain lingered.

"Do not try and fight it Naruto, let it flow."

Itachi's quiet yet powerful voice pierced the empty interior of the compound.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto did what was told of him.

Power coursed through his eye and in turn, throughout his whole body.

* * *

 **X**

* * *

For one of the few rare moments in his life, Shikamaru was now curiously invested; there was a mass of reactions that had been slowly building up for the past two months.

Ino was very confused.

Sakura was very confused.

Hinata was depressed and confused.

One thought ran simultaneously through their minds.

' _Where's Naruto?'_

Ino was honestly curious. The last time she saw Naruto was well more than two months ago. Sakura felt odd about the fact that there was no whiskered blonde to bother her every day. Even the last few months she did see Naruto, he didn't talk to her much.

Hinata was slowly spiraling into depression. She was even more withdrawn than before. Her obsession was now gone. She had gone far and wide in her search, even to the edges of the forest _outside_ of Konoha.

But he was nowhere to be found.

Sasuke was fuming. The last time he had seen the dobe was when the blonde had sent him off to a non-existent training grounds. Sasuke swore the next time he saw Naruto, he was going to get the worst thrashing of the blonde's miserable life.

Shikamaru, with small effort, connected the dots quickly as to why everyone was having such a strong reaction.

Uzumaki Naruto.

"YO NARUTO GUESS WHAT-" Kiba barged in the classroom, paused, and then blinked. "Eh? He still aint here? Damn, it's been like a billion days already. I wanted to tell him I'm getting a dog soon too…"

"Shut up Kiba!"

"You dumbass, he hasn't been here for like three months!"

"I heard he dropped out!"

He looked outside the classroom window at the empty swing seat with a pondering gaze.

' _Troublesome…'_

* * *

 ** _CHECK OUT MY NEW STORIESSSSS_**

 _ **To Rise Again (personal favorite):**_ **At the age of nine, an extreme prodigy arose to show himself to those in the Elemental Nations. One smarter than a Nara, one faster than the famous Maito, one who's jutsu repertoire matched that of Kakashi of the Sharingan. By the age of ten, he turned his headband in.**

 _ **The Genocide's Testimony:**_ **Witnessing a clan massacre is terrible; however, sometimes, there are much worse fates. Darker!Naruto! Mokuton!Naruto!**

 _ **A Grimm Tail:**_ **NarutoXRwby crossover. In a world consumed and overrun with darkness, one must always make a choice: to be the prey or the predator. Unfortunately, one doesn't always get to pick. Pairing: NaruXHarem, pairing undecided for some parts (Pyrrah is for sure in).**

 _ **The Guardian of Eden:**_ **A NarutoXHighschoolDxD crossover: She had seen his face for the briefest of seconds. Eyes as clear as the blue skies that reflected pain and sorrow deeper than the ocean. There was no mistake about it, if she didn't hurry to him, he would die. Pairing: NarutoXRias,Akeno,Gabriel,Koneko. IsseiXAsia**


End file.
